Google and Apple - A Convenient Wedding?

Apparently, if rumors are any indication, Apple’s next AI provider for integration into Apple Intelligence is Google’s Gemini, or a derivative of it. It would go along with Apple’s own LLM models running on Private Cloud Compute.

I wonder if Google’s contribution is free for Apple or part of a larger deal, tied to the Google search agreement, where Google is the default search engine on the iPhone.

Imagine that¹, Apple probably said: “You know what, I’ll reduce your cost for this search deal, but you accept to build a specific version of Gemini LLM for use on Private Cloud Compute and develop a conduit for Gemini on-device that integrates with Apple Intelligence.”