As Apple races to catch up to OpenAI and Copilot on the iPhone, it's apparently turning to Google over Microsoft

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History rewrites itself. Google and Apple are in the middle of a deal that could potentially leave Microsoft with the shorter end of the stick when it comes to the AI landscape on mobile.

Google Bard is now Gemini
(Image credit: Google)

What you need to know

  • Google is reportedly in the middle of a megadeal with Apple that see its AI-powered chatbot, Gemini, being used as the default AI assistant on the iPhone.
  • Despite Microsoft's early investment and adoption of AI, Google might end up dominating mobile market share across search and now as the default AI assistant on iOS and Android.
  • Microsoft Copilot can be set as the default assistant on Android, though its capabilities are fairly limited.

"The distribution advantage Google has today doesn’t go away; in fact, if anything, I worry a lot that – even in spite of my enthusiasm that there is a new angle with A.I., this vicious cycle that I’m trapped in could get even more vicious," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella explained while appearing in court to testify in Google’s antitrust trial late last year.

Microsoft's early lead and investment in generative AI has placed it in an advantageous position to tap into more opportunities across the PC and mobile landscape. This heavily contributed to the tech giant's recent rise to the top and being ranked as the world's most valuable company with a $3 trillion market cap. Market analysts project that Microsoft could be the world's most valuable company in five years ahead of Apple if it keeps advancing in the AI landscape.

But as it now seems, Microsoft's efforts might be on a slippery slope. In a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman (usually a credible and reliable source of Apple-related news), Apple is reportedly getting into a megadeal with Google. The deal could potentially see Google Bard Gemini make its way to iPhone users.

According to Gurman's sources, if the deal pulls through, Apple will leverage the AI-powered tool's capabilities to support several features shipping to the iPhone's software later this year. As you may know, both companies already have a deal that places Google as the default search engine on iPhones. 

Google has been called out on numerous occasions for this specific reason. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says Google doesn't play fair with Bing. This is especially because of its deal with Apple which ultimately places Microsoft at a competitive disadvantage. Interestingly, Mozilla also made similar allegations against Microsoft earlier this year, indicating that the tech giant uses deceitful tactics and harmful designs to give its Edge browser a competitive advantage over other browsers on Windows.

Apple has been relatively quiet and late to the AI party compared to its competitors including Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI who are also considered early adopters of the technology. But it seems that the pressure is slowly mounting on the iPhone maker, and we're now likely to see AI-powered features ship to Apple devices much like the recently announced Samsung S24 lineup. 

Google asserts its dominance in search, and now the AI landscape

(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)

Microsoft recently launched Copilot AI on mobile devices, however, a report by Appfigures showed that the launch of the app on iOS and Android was lackluster. The report further indicated that ChatGPT continues to dominate the category in terms of downloads and revenue generated, this is despite Microsoft Copilot shipping with free access to DALL-E 3 image generation technology and OpenAI's latest LLM.

Be it as it may, Microsoft Copilot and Google's Gemini have faced several challenges over the past few months including slow image generation speeds, inaccurate responses, misinformation, and more. However, both companies have shown relentless effort to try and resolve some of these issues.

While it's possible to use Microsoft Copilot as your default assistant on Android (well, sort of), its capabilities are quite limited. Now, you'll need to have a beta version of Copilot installed. And even then, you won't be able to accomplish simple tasks like taking screenshots and more. What measures and plans Microsoft has to make the experience more seamless and worthwhile is unclear.  

This isn't to say that Google Gemini is perfect, either. Its image generation capability has been under fire for generating inaccurate and offensive images. This ultimately prompted Google to temporarily disable this feature while it continues to work on making more improvements to make the experience better.

Google Assistant and Gemini complement each other almost perfectly, which makes the experience better and more comprehensive. This has heavily contributed to it being broadly used on Android devices, and with the impending deal between Apple and Google, a similar experience could potentially be on the way for iPhone users. This will give Google a competitive advantage again over Microsoft, as Gemini will be set as the default AI assistant across the Android and iOS ecosystems. 

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Kevin Okemwa
Kevin Okemwa
Contributor

Kevin Okemwa is a seasoned tech journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya with lots of experience covering the latest trends and developments in the industry at Windows Central. With a passion for innovation and a keen eye for detail, he has written for leading publications such as OnMSFT, MakeUseOf, and Windows Report, providing insightful analysis and breaking news on everything revolving around the Microsoft ecosystem. You'll also catch him occasionally contributing at iMore about Apple and AI. While AFK and not busy following the ever-emerging trends in tech, you can find him exploring the world or listening to music.

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • naddy69
    "The distribution advantage Google has today doesn’t go away; in fact, if anything, I worry a lot that – even in spite of my enthusiasm that there is a new angle with A.I., this vicious cycle that I’m trapped in could get even more vicious,"

    Drama much? :rolleyes:

    What "vicious cycle" is he talking about? The one where MS and Apple go back and forth being The World's Most Valuable Company?

    As we have seen, so-called "A.I." is nothing but a toy for consumers to play with. Much like "smart speakers" were 5 years ago. It is shaping up to be the biggest hype - and biggest dud - since Y2K.

    Also, Apple does not "race to catch up" to anyone. They sit back and watch, to see if "the new thing" is worthwhile and/or the technology matures. Like dual screen/folding screen phones.

    "A.I." in its current state is not worth rushing into. A smart company would wait until the dust - not to mention the lawsuits - settles. Meanwhile, use it for small things like photo editing. Generating huge amounts of meaningless Word Salad from copyrighted works and fake nude pictures of celebrities is only interesting to lawyers.
    Reply
  • Laxman Dhotre
    naddy69 said:
    "The distribution advantage Google has today doesn’t go away; in fact, if anything, I worry a lot that – even in spite of my enthusiasm that there is a new angle with A.I., this vicious cycle that I’m trapped in could get even more vicious,"

    Drama much? :rolleyes:

    What "vicious cycle" is he talking about? The one where MS and Apple go back and forth being The World's Most Valuable Company?

    As we have seen, so-called "A.I." is nothing but a toy for consumers to play with. Much like "smart speakers" were 5 years ago. It is shaping up to be the biggest hype - and biggest dud - since Y2K.

    Also, Apple does not "race to catch up" to anyone. They sit back and watch, to see if "the new thing" is worthwhile and/or the technology matures. Like dual screen/folding screen phones.

    "A.I." in its current state is not worth rushing into. A smart company would wait until the dust - not to mention the lawsuits - settles. Meanwhile, use it for small things like photo editing. Generating huge amounts of meaningless Word Salad from copyrighted works and fake nude pictures of celebrities is only interesting to lawyers.
    You're undermining this AI wave severely. It's nothing like the smart speaker fud. Like it or not but google seriously upper hand at being the most used search engine, browser and mobile OS, on top of that google indulges in such deals, if this was Microsoft they'd already be investigated for being anti competitive.

    people seem to have soft spot for google for some reason as if they're some nice company
    Reply
  • fdruid
    Big mistake that should come to bite them in the ass.
    Reply
  • fdruid
    Laxman Dhotre said:
    You're undermining this AI wave severely. It's nothing like the smart speaker fud. Like it or not but google seriously upper hand at being the most used search engine, browser and mobile OS, on top of that google indulges in such deals, if this was Microsoft they'd already be investigated for being anti competitive.

    people seem to have soft spot for google for some reason as if they're some nice company

    MS would be crucified for less, and Google always gets out too easily, agreed.
    Reply
  • Jcmg62
    Anyone who's been following the Microsoft (windows mobile), Apple, Google saga for long enough will know that there's only one way Microsoft can ever hope to be relevant in the mobile space....build a fantastic surface phone, stick a rock solid windows mobile OS on it, pack it with exclusive features, make it universally available, and, most importantly, commit to supporting it for decades.

    None of this "oh, we're updating the OS and leaving your one year old phone behind" BS

    None of this "we're going to build better apps and services for Apple/Google and maybe we'll make them available for our own OS one day... Maybe" BS

    Build your device. Put windows on it. Support the hell out of it. Forever.

    Google and Apple have a big head start, but the EU is changing the digital landscape. They're forcing platforms tk open. App stores are going to start popping up everywhere.

    Microsoft can take advantage of that, but they have to get behind their own hardware and software beliefs before they can expect consumers to support them.
    Reply
  • fjtorres5591
    naddy69 said:
    "The distribution advantage Google has today doesn’t go away; in fact, if anything, I worry a lot that – even in spite of my enthusiasm that there is a new angle with A.I., this vicious cycle that I’m trapped in could get even more vicious,"

    Drama much? :rolleyes:

    What "vicious cycle" is he talking about? The one where MS and Apple go back and forth being The World's Most Valuable Company?

    As we have seen, so-called "A.I." is nothing but a toy for consumers to play with. Much like "smart speakers" were 5 years ago. It is shaping up to be the biggest hype - and biggest dud - since Y2K.

    Also, Apple does not "race to catch up" to anyone. They sit back and watch, to see if "the new thing" is worthwhile and/or the technology matures. Like dual screen/folding screen phones.

    "A.I." in its current state is not worth rushing into. A smart company would wait until the dust - not to mention the lawsuits - settles. Meanwhile, use it for small things like photo editing. Generating huge amounts of meaningless Word Salad from copyrighted works and fake nude pictures of celebrities is only interesting to lawyers.
    Two points: You're right that Apple has long suceeded without being first. At *anything*. That worked...for a while. But not recently. How did waiting for somebody else proving a market first worked for Apple on ebooks? SmartTVs, Electric Vehicles? Want to bet of their VR product? (Have you heard of the Ray Ban META? That is where Apple should have gone.)

    As to "AI", why would Apple be cozying up to Google if they didn't feel the need to gain access somebody's mature LLM tech? Because they have none of their own. The market has been proven and the market is not about consumer Chatbots. That is the loss leader for the real " AI" cash cows and Apple has *nothing* to offer *today* for that market. Just as they have nothing for the Cloud Computing market they missed out on.

    As is, Apple going after any form of "AI" is just like the way they went after ebooks: trying to catch up to a market they missed on and hoping they're not too late to "show the flag". But it really doesn't matter. They can trot whatever chatbot they want and it will never get them into the real money: the enterprise businesses.

    Let them do whatever they think necessary. It'll keep the faithful happy. It won't do a thing for their market share in computers, tablets, or even phones. But it won't matter beyond the faithful.

    That said, they really should know better than to cozy up to Google's soon to be renamed two time loser of a Me2 product. (And what does that say about Apple's inhouse staff that is only now being shifted from EV cars to chatbots? Or Darwin, Ince, the canadian AI startup they just bought?) Not much of a vote of confidence on the inhouse guys.

    There are a couple of promising UK and French startups that are coming up with nice twists on the core Transformer tech underneath LLMs. Or maybe the japanese or Koreans. They won't come as cheap as SIRI, INC back in the day but they need a boost and fast. Can't cheap out now.

    For now, just live and let die.
    Apple has waaayy bigger problems on the horizon than chatbots.
    (Hint: China.)
    Reply
  • fjtorres5591
    Smartphones are a mature, saturated business.
    The reason they keep pimping new models every year is to get people to replace perfectly useful phones.
    Thing is, the phone model itself is at risk from other wearable technologies.
    Apple got into watches precisely for this.
    But with LLM, phones will lose share to standalone watches, glasses, and rings, badges and pendants.

    This is *not* the time to get into phones.
    This is the time to go where phones can't.
    This is the time to look past last decade's consumer tech and get started on the markets of the future.

    In case you folks haven't noticed, everything Nadella has been doing from Nuance to ABK to ORKA is about future markets, not the one they missed out on. This time he wants MS to be ahead of the curve.

    In case anybody doubts it, look up Microsoft's AI deals with SIEMENS and ROCKWELL, to start with. Apple and Google are in the rear view mirror.
    Reply
  • Ron-F
    Microsoft is not in the conversation with Apple because they don’t have anything to offer. Apple seems to be inclined to use their own short models in the phone and rely in a third party large model in the server. Apple is negotiating with Google over Gemini and is probably talking to OpenAI regarding ChatGTP. Microsoft doesn’t own a competing product.
    Reply
  • fjtorres5591
    Ron-F said:
    Microsoft is not in the conversation with Apple because they don’t have anything to offer. Apple seems to be inclined to use their own short models in the phone and rely in a third party large model in the server. Apple is negotiating with Google over Gemini and is probably talking to OpenAI regarding ChatGTP. Microsoft doesn’t own a competing product.
    If you mean chztbots, Microsoft doesn't need a competing product. They get all they need from OpenAI on that front. On the SLM and *embedded* model side they are well set with inhouse tools: you do know Azure alone carries around a dozen different models, right? And Nuance and MS Research have their own proprietry options on the side.

    This obsession with the 'bots is obscuring the fact that LLM is not a product but a *feature* and in many cases an optional add-on. Also that LLMs and variants aren't the only Transformer AI out there and Transformer approaches aren't the only ath forward. There are dozens of startups looking to strie gold and ten be bought up, dot-com era style. OpenAI, Google, and Meta are far from the only sources of useful tools. And tools is what LLMs are. MS is a tools comany at their core, Apple isn't; they're product focused and *consumer* product focused. That makes them mostly irrelevant in the *real* AI race. In the real race, they are consumers of the tools, not creators. (Think AAA game developets and UNREAL and the other engines.)

    What "AI" is, though, is a very young, very immature, very EXPENSIVE tech to deploy. Tool creators are the bottleneck. It is still early in the game but Apple got caught zigging (VR and EVs) just as the market zagged (Apple Needs to be terified of Ray Ban. Seriously.) The future is not looking the way they thought it would.
    Reply