Apple Intelligence made its public debut amid much hype from the company. While I appreciate the direction Apple took with its AI implementation, Apple bit off more than it could chew. The first letdown came when the new iPhone 16 series launched without its marquee feature. Even when Apple Intelligence arrived with iOS 18.1, it felt underwhelming compared to what Google did with AI on Pixel phones.
Moments like these make me realize how far ahead Google Gemini and Google’s AI efforts are for real-world use. After testing Apple Intelligence on an iPhone 16 Pro Max and stacking it up against Gemini, here’s what I discovered (spoiler: Google has the edge).
5 – Text creation is no small feat
Turns out, not every AI can generate text
When ChatGPT came into our lives about two years ago, it was pitched as a tool that creates text from scratch with simple prompts. Since then, every mainstream generative AI service, including Google Gemini, has offered text generation.
Apple Intelligence includes a suite of writing tools, but it can’t write for you. All it does is fix grammar and tone, something Grammarly has been doing for as long as I can remember. Still, it isn’t good at it. When I gave the same email text to Gemini and Apple Intelligence for editing, Gemini returned a richer draft, while Apple’s AI made basic edits and called it a day.
Apple Intelligence’s writing tool (left) vs. Google Gemini
When you ask Apple for a friendlier tone, it often dials up the spirit too much, with no way to fine-tune the results with prompts. Gemini, being chat-based, handles that without a sweat. While Apple aims to bring similar options to its AI writing tools with iOS 18.2, it won’t add a full-fledged writing mode to generate text from scratch.
4 – Google’s Magic Editor > Apple’s Clean Up
Wiping the floor with Clean Up
Original, Apple’s Clean Up edit, and Google’s Magic Editor edit (in that order)
Magic Eraser was the tool Google used to show off its AI capabilities in 2021. It could erase distractions from your photos, often without leaving a trace, as it got better over time. Last year, Magic Eraser evolved into Magic Editor, like a Pokémon with enhanced generative capabilities. It now fills in areas you want to edit with generated content that blends in.
Apple introduced a similar feature in its Photos app, but it’s still in the early days. It struggles when you edit complex areas of a photo with many objects. I tested Google Photos and Apple Photos on several images, and Google consistently did a better job, while Apple left smudges as evidence of its shabby editing skills.
3 – Transcription is Google’s strong suit
Apple completely fails at the job
Apple seemed pumped about its new call recording and AI-based transcription feature during the launch event. The problem? It fails to work most of the time. The main issue is that Apple Intelligence supports only US English, limiting its functionality. When I recorded a call with a store’s support team to keep a record of the conversation, the iPhone failed to transcribe it, even though we spoke in English with an Indian accent.
Audio quality couldn’t have been the issue because I played the same recording for Google Recorder on a Pixel phone, and it had no trouble transcribing it. I’ve long relied on Google Recorder for recording meetings and taking notes. Even with the thickest accents or a mix of languages, Google consistently delivers results with 80% to 90% accuracy on the worst days. It is simply a better tool.
2 –Google’s AI works everywhere
But Apple wants you to buy a new iPhone
Language support isn’t the only limitation of Apple Intelligence. Hardware support is another major factor. Even last year’s iPhone 15 doesn’t support the new AI tools, showing how short-sighted Apple’s AI efforts are. You must own an iPhone 15 Pro or the latest iPhone 16 series to access Apple Intelligence. Even then, you don’t get these AI features in the EU due to local laws.
Meanwhile, Google is more generous with its device support. The photo editing tools are available across brands and devices, working as well on the three-year-old Pixel 6 as on the latest Samsung phones. The same goes for Google’s voice assistant. Gemini works on any Android phone and offers the advanced Gemini Live mode, which allows two-way conversations. Google even made Gemini available on the iPhone.
1 – Gemini looks like the future
While Siri is stuck in the past
Siri got a sleek new animation with the screen’s edges lighting up, signaling the voice assistant’s omnipresence on the iPhone. I prefer it over the old animation. However, as soon as you ask Siri a question, it becomes clear that nothing has changed under the hood. Siri still pulls up Google Search results and Wikipedia snippets, even for simple queries. It’s so underwhelming that Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern recently excluded Siri from her comparison of AI chatbots.
Google Assistant has always outshone Siri, and Gemini takes things to a new level. Its conversational abilities make it a better assistant, and its deep integration with Google apps is a bonus. You can ask Gemini to create a custom YouTube Music playlist based on your mood, and it generates one on the spot.
But that isn’t all. Gemini Live allows free-flowing conversations, the kind of intuitive voice assistant we imagined, akin to Jarvis. You can use it to brainstorm ideas, explore complex topics, or chat to get a fresh perspective on your thoughts.
Apple Intelligence still gets some things right
Apple Intelligence doesn’t live up to the hype, but it gets a few things right. For example, the writing tools are built into the system, and I can access them anywhere. It’s a smoother experience than using a separate AI app to proofread text. Also, after using the iPhone for a month, I find AI notification summaries useful (in the few apps where it works, thanks to its language limitations). Still, some have had funny moments with it.
The direction Apple is going with AI is solid, but the execution needs more work. Since Apple is late to the party, it may take a while to catch up in the areas where Google Gemini has a solid lead.
