Google and Apple have a long history of lucrative collaboration, most notably a search agreement that reportedly pays Apple around $20 billion annually to keep Google as the default search engine on iPhones. But Google’s newer AI partnership with Apple presents a less obvious business case.

The Siri-related deal is rumored to cost Apple about $1 billion per year, yet how Google will monetize AI-powered search and assistants remains uncertain. Ads within Google’s AI Mode are still in an experimental phase, with placements appearing below or woven into chatbot-style responses.

During Alphabet’s earnings call, executives offered only brief mentions of the partnership, emphasizing Google’s role as Apple’s preferred cloud provider and a contributor to future AI models—while avoiding details on long-term strategy.