Google took a page out of Apple’s playbook when it unveiled its new AI features during the Android Show a couple of days ago and conveniently named the whole experience ‘Gemini Intelligence’. Well, as it turns out, the company may be picking up more than just the name from Apple and even the release of these features may be limited to high-end devices, potentially disqualifying various phones, including even the Galaxy Fold 7 and last year’s Pixel 9.
Notably, when Apple first brought Apple Intelligence in iOS 18, the tech giant had disqualified last generation’s iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus from getting these features due to the less powerful hardware on board, and a similar pattern could very well unfold with Gemini Intelligence as well.
But before we move ahead with all of this, let’s first answer the big question: what exactly is Gemini Intelligence?
Gemini Intelligence:
While Gemini has been at the centre of the Android experience in recent years, Google announced a few more AI-powered features and labelled the broader experience as Gemini Intelligence.
During the Android Show, Google announced that Gemini will be able to automate tasks on behalf of users across select apps, like ordering a latte from a cafe or building a shopping cart from a grocery list in a notes app.
The AI assistant will also be able to fill out complex forms by tapping into the Personal Intelligence feature that Google announced earlier this year.
Google Chrome is also getting a big upgrade with Gemini, with the browser being capable of taking care of tasks on behalf of users like booking appointments or reserving a parking slot.
Meanwhile, Gboard is getting an AI-powered voice typing assistant called Rambler, which can clean up filler words like “ums” and “ahs” during dictation while restructuring messy thoughts into concise text and handling inputs across multiple languages like Hindi and English.
Who will get Gemini Intelligence?
Google said in its blog post that the Gemini Intelligence features will first begin to arrive on Pixel and Galaxy flagship devices, followed by other devices later in the year.
But the footnotes on a Gemini Intelligence page note that the new features are only available on devices meeting the ‘most advanced capabilities and spec requirements’. Eligible devices must have AI Core integration with Gemini Nano v3 or a newer model, at least 12GB of RAM, and run on a ‘flagship chip’. Devices must also come with at least five OS upgrades and six years of quarterly security updates. They must also support advanced virtualisation frameworks like AVF and pKVM.
Meanwhile, a Google developer page also listed devices that meet the eligibility criteria for Gemini Nano v3 and Gemini Nano v2 models separately. You can check the complete list below.
However, the developer page only outlines the support for Gemini Nano Prompt API, rather than the underlying Gemini Nano model itself. This leaves a lot of doubt about whether the devices on the Nano V2 list will get support for Gemini Intelligence or not.
It’s worth noting Google has not yet released an official compatibility list for its new AI features, meaning the requirements could still change or some features may be selectively enabled on older devices. It’s also possible that Google may provide a scaled-back version of Gemini Intelligence on the older devices.
