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

Kevin Okemwa
·4 min read
Google Bard is now Gemini.
Google Bard is now Gemini.

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

ChatGPT on a Google Pixel 7 Pro
ChatGPT on a Google Pixel 7 Pro

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.