Google Is Beating Apple on Smartphone AI
I’m an iPhone user. These are the smart tools I’m most jealous of in Google’s new Pixel 10.
By Nicole Nguyen
Aug. 20, 2025 12:00 pm ET
The race to develop the killer AI-powered phone is on. But Apple is getting lapped by its Android competitors.
Apple teased a smarter Siri but it’s MIA, and other Apple Intelligence offerings are meh. Meanwhile, Samsung is fusing Gemini into its Galaxy phones, and the new Google Pixels are chock-full of AI this and AI that. Tools we’d actually use.
The coming Pixel 10, announced on Wednesday by Alphabet subsidiary Google and available Aug. 28, dressed me in an AI-generated blazer right in the camera app. A convincing clone of my voice fluently discussed lunch in German, which I don’t speak. When I called United customer service, flight reservation information automatically appeared on screen.
The Pixel holds just a fraction of the smartphone market—and that’s unlikely to change, given how attached we are to our mobile devices—but it’s leagues ahead of the iPhone in AI. In a recent ad, Google mocked Apple’s smart-Siri delay, suggesting iPhone owners change to the new Pixel 10.
Regardless of which side you’re on, don’t we all just want to know what AI can really do for us on a phone? After I checked out the Pixel 10, I have an answer: information that appears right when you need it, real-time translation in your own voice, a virtual photographer directing your shots, a personalized fitness coach and more.
What can’t it do? Turn those iPhone green text bubbles into blue ones.
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Google says Pixel’s advanced AI features can “make magic happen.” Samsung prominently labels its phones with “Galaxy AI.” Apple’s website highlights “AI-opening possibilities.”
People aren’t demanding AI features in their phones just yet, says Sheng Win Chow, an analyst at Canalys, which tracks smartphone sales. But Google is betting they soon will. The race continues and for now, Apple has a lot of catching up to do.
wsj.com |
