Apple is about to hand iPhone users something they’ve never had before: a real choice of AI brain. According to TechCrunch AI, citing a new Bloomberg report, iOS 27 will ship later this year with a feature that lets users pick from multiple third-party large language models to power on-device intelligence. Internally, Apple calls it “Extensions.”
This is a significant pivot for a company that usually walls its garden tighter, not wider.
What Extensions actually does
A message spotted in test builds describes Extensions as a way to “access generative AI capabilities from installed apps on demand, through Apple Intelligence features such as Siri, Writing Tools, Image Playground and more.” Translation: third-party models can plug directly into the core OS surfaces, not just live inside their own standalone apps.
Key details from the TechCrunch AI report:
- Models from Google and Anthropic are reportedly being tested right now.
- The capability extends beyond iPhone. iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 are getting it too.
- ChatGPT’s status is unclear, but since it’s already the default option in current Apple Intelligence, the implication is that OpenAI stays in the mix.
- Apple has not commented publicly. TechCrunch reached out for more.
Why this matters
Until now, the AI conversation on iPhone has been a one-horse race. ChatGPT was the model Siri could hand off to, and that was it. Apple Intelligence itself runs on Apple’s own smaller models, with OpenAI as the heavyweight sidekick.
Opening that handoff layer to Gemini, Claude, and potentially others changes the math for everyone:
- For users: pick the model you trust, prefer, or already pay for. Anthropic fans get Claude reasoning baked into Writing Tools. Google loyalists can route Siri queries through Gemini.
- For developers: a much bigger surface to reach iPhone users without building a separate app experience.
- For the AI labs: distribution on a billion-plus active devices, suddenly competitive instead of locked.
- For OpenAI: the cozy default-status era ends. ChatGPT now has to win on merit.
The move also reframes how Apple is playing the AI game. The company has taken heat all year for shipping fewer flashy AI features than Google, Microsoft, or Meta. Extensions is Apple’s answer: instead of trying to out-build the model labs, become the platform they all want to live on.
Leadership shift in the background
The report lands as Apple is preparing for a major executive transition. Tim Cook is on his way out, and incoming chief John Ternus inherits the AI strategy file. TechCrunch AI notes Apple is widely seen as “behind” on AI, but the company is already pulling in real AI-driven revenue. Its bet is less about pouring billions into model training and more about turning its hardware install base into the most valuable AI distribution channel on Earth.
Extensions fits that thesis perfectly. Apple doesn’t need to win the model race if it owns the runway every model has to land on.
What to expect next
A few things to watch as iOS 27 inches toward release:
- Pricing and gating. Will premium models (Claude Opus, Gemini Ultra) require their own subscriptions, or will Apple negotiate flat-rate access?
- Default behavior. Whichever model becomes the out-of-the-box default on a billion devices wins enormous leverage.
- Privacy framing. Apple has built its AI brand on on-device processing. Expect strict rules on what Extensions can send to the cloud.
- Developer access. If Anthropic and Google get in, do smaller players (Mistral, xAI, Perplexity) get a path too?
For practitioners building on top of iPhone, this is the moment to start thinking about which model your product targets, and how that choice changes when the user can swap brains with a settings toggle.
More details, including Bloomberg’s full reporting, are at the original TechCrunch AI piece.