AI in iPhones? Apple in talks with Google
Apple (AAPL) is in talks with Alphabet's Google (GOOG, GOOGL) to potentially incorporate Google's "Gemini" generative AI engine into its iPhones, according to a Bloomberg report. Apple had previously engaged in talks with OpenAI for a similar potential partnership.
Yahoo Finance's Seana Smith and Brad Smith discuss past deals between Apple and Google, and how generative AI may be embedded in the devices.
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Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith
Video Transcript
- All right. Well, Apple reportedly in talks with Google to use its generative AI engine Gemini on its iPhones. This is according to a report from Bloomberg. Now, this comes after Apple also reportedly held conversations with OpenAI to use its product.
Now, this is huge news within the AI space, really within the tech space more broadly here, Brad. If in fact this partnership does go through, it really totally would shake up the AI world. A couple of things, though to bring up. Obviously, a partnership here with Apple and Google, it would be a huge advantage for Google.
You're getting access, you're getting exposure to the number of users that Apple has. But it also brings up the fact that, hey, maybe Apple isn't as advanced as many thought that they might have been potentially up until this point on some of their AI efforts. So you've got to also question what this could mean for AI and-- for Apple, excuse me, and their AI plans more broadly speaking in the longer run.
- Yeah. Putting generative AI at the fingertips of those two billion devices that are out in the market for Apple iPhones here. And it's important to also note that these companies have had deals in the past, whether that's for search on the iPhones. We do know that Google is the default search engine.
And then you can go in and kind of download your other search engines as well, whatever you would like to use on most of these devices. But this is really critical, I think, for how the data sharing as well across both of these companies would move forward. Because you do have a trove of data that would be indexed as you would perceive for any generative AI type of Copilot or tool that would be embedded within it or if it's just embedded within some of the existing operating systems and apps that are on there.
I don't know how they're going to go about doing this. But it's another reason for me to perhaps delay upgrading my iPhone, which we've already-- you've seen my cracked screen every day. At this juncture, I'm just waiting for the next generative AI major announcement to come forward so that I know that that's the device that I have to get into here.
- Yeah, exactly. And I think a lot of people are out there scratching their heads trying to figure out exactly what this means, what the technology is going to behold, whether or not they should be staying on the sidelines and waiting for these new applications and what exactly that would then enable some of these iPhones to do. But real quick, just looking at this early, reaction that we're getting from some analysts out there.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives saying that this strategic partnership is a missing piece in the Apple AI strategy. It's a major win for Google to get onto the Apple ecosystem. Similar to what we were talking about just a second ago there, Brad.
And then Melius Research was also saying that this news represents a bigger immediate win for Apple who can use that asset light approach to aspects of its AI strategy, and then therefore potentially acquire another form of overall traffic acquisition payments there. So they're viewing it as a huge win here for Apple and for Alphabet. And then that's a big reason why we're seeing both of these stocks move to the upside here in pre-market trading.
- Yeah, huge move for Alphabet. And that-- this is now access into a device ecosystem that you didn't necessarily-- and outside of the existing partnerships, you were looking to expand upon more. And so for Google and Alphabet, what they've been able to do with the Android OS. And they've already got that's part of the market. Now, it's just about, OK, how do we get even more entrenchment into the Apple operating system, an ecosystem that we don't power but we can be a net benefactor of as well.
