If you need a reminder that Google is not Apple, just take a look at how the search giant conducted its Made By Google Pixel product festival on August 13. Instead of regaling us with four new Pixel phones, two new Pixel Watches, and a new Pixel Buds Pro 2, Google spent the first 30 minutes talking almost exclusively about Gemini.
If you’ve been paying attention, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Google filled the Paris Olympics airwaves with quick video ads showing Olympic athletes using Gemini (along with an unfortunate ad about a parent who was perhaps overusing it), and answers to the Gemini-assisted AI overview now appear in 70% (at least) of my Google search queries. For Google, there is no more important technology, and Google used its biggest product event of the year to demo and promote it.
It’s not just the focus on Gemini, but how Google did it. Imagine Apple showing off Apple Intelligence, Siri, or some other core technology on someone else’s hardware. I know, it’s a ridiculous idea. However, Google really focused on how Gemini works on a number of Android phones, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, the Motorola Razr, and the Samsung Galaxy S24.
Once again, Google went far beyond a simple mention. It demonstrated basic capabilities like using Gemini to analyze a photo and, through prompts, take action — in this case, reading the text on a concert poster and then asking Gemini a detailed question about the date of the show and how it works with its calendar.
The demo failed twice, but Google persisted with another Samsung phone until it finally got it working. Undeterred, Google also demonstrated the Gemini writing assistant on the S24.
Google Friends
Why would Google spend so much time demonstrating these powerful Gemini capabilities on another company’s phone? Because Gemini is an AI ambassador for countless Android phones around the world. Unlike Apple, which only has to think about its vertically controlled ecosystem, Google is thinking in at least two dimensions. It has its own growing stack of software, silicon, and hardware, and then it has the circle of Android phones that are adopting a sometimes slightly more limited set of Gemini capabilities.
Google essentially used the first part of the Made By Google event as a signal or beacon to Android partners and Android phone owners that the word of Google Gemini is open and ready to live on many of their phones.
When Google finally started talking about its new hardware, though, it didn’t seem to downplay the importance of it. Sure, aside from the Tensor G4 chip, Google spent very little time on the detailed specs of the Google Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9 Pro XL. The completely redesigned Pixel 9 Pro Fold did get a more detailed look, but these devices look more like vessels for a Gemini soul.
To be fair, many of these Gemini capabilities are exciting and even inspiring. Add Me is the biggest thing to happen to group photography since the selfie stick. Grandpa and Aunt Betty will never be left out again. Cousin Jeff is another story.
Gemini is quite exciting
The Screenshots app is one of the smartest uses of generative AI, applying a truly useful solution to a very common problem. Good luck finding someone who doesn't take screenshots to remember or organize. An app that does that job for you is great.
Google’s main theme for Gemini Nano (the version of Gemini found on Pixel phones) is less flashy and weird and more useful. I see Call Notes the same way. Remembering conversations and keeping track of phone interviews is hard. Call Notes could make it a cinch — with the important caveat that everyone has to be comfortable with call recording (and yes, everyone gets notifications).
If there's a downside to Google's inverted approach, it's that without Gemini, the next generation of hardware (perhaps barring the Pixel 9 Pro Fold) could feel underwhelming.
Google hasn't pushed the boundaries of photography excellence with huge new lenses and more megapixels than you might imagine (most of the best new features are thanks to Gemini and an improved imaging pipeline). The Tensor G4 chip looks like it could be powerful, but Google hasn't made direct comparisons to either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 or Apple's A17 Pro, and one wonders if, once again, there's a performance gap.
Google has done a lot to improve the design of all of its phones, so much so that the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL all look pretty much like an iPhone, save for that massive camera strip. I’m still not a fan, but I appreciate Google’s commitment to this design element.
Long story short: Made By Google may never have referred to all the hardware unveiled Tuesday in Mountain View and instead refers to Gemini, a powerful generative artificial intelligence software platform that is slowly but surely devouring Google.
You may also like
