Will AI on Smartphones Make a Real Difference?

Apple's AI features roll out soon, in competition with Google's. Find out how these features stack up and if they are worth your time and money

- Shouvik Das

Next month, if you have one of the eligible iPhones, iPads and Macs, Apple's generative AI features will become available via a software update—almost 10 months after the company spoke about it for the first time. Essentially, if you have an iPhone 16, an M1 MacBook Pro, or an iPad Air, you will get access to all the shiny artificial intelligence tools from Apple to play around with.

Last month, Apple rolled out a preview update in the beta channel for its AI features in India, giving a glimpse at how the features may (or may not) make a difference. For you, though, the devil may lie in the finer details—and not just the gimmicky bits.

NOT JUST IPHONES

Before proceeding further, though, it's important to note that it's not just Apple and its iPhones that will support AI features starting next month. In October 2023, Google launched its Pixel 8 family of smartphones, bringing features such as live transcription of audio recordings, an AI image editor to tweak and retouch photographs, a window to create whimsical images using Google's AI engine, and more.

Now firmly in its second generation, the Google Pixel 9 series of phones support a built-in Gemini app that you can use to have AI proofread your writeup, create images, generate a new wallpaper each day, summarize transcripts, and more. Since January last year, Samsung's flagship Galaxy S series of phones can do so too—they use Google's Gemini AI models only. In July last year, Motorola's Razr 50 Ultra flagship foldable phone also offered Google-powered AI features—but with its own interface.