Here’s what they use it for

Throughout 2023 and 2024, the generative AI hype train has fully taken hold of the tech world, for better or worse. Practically every publicly traded company is trying to incorporate some form of generative AI into its products, and there’s no shortage of models and services to choose from. Gemini, Google’s family of large language models (LLMs) and AI chatbots, is one of the top contenders in this space, and Google is leveraging its control over Android to bring its technology to as many people as possible.

Gemini Nano, the most lightweight version of the Gemini LLM that’s optimized to run on mobile devices, made its debut on the Google Pixel 8 Pro in late 2023. In 2024, it made its way over to the Samsung Galaxy S24 series and later the Pixel 8 and the Pixel 8a, although on the latter two devices, it’s only available as a developer preview. With the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 last month, Google expanded Gemini Nano to foldables for the first time. Here’s a look at what AI features are powered by Gemini Nano on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6.

Do the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 really support Gemini Nano?

If you were thinking that Gemini Nano is used to power many of the features that are under the Galaxy AI umbrella, then you’re wrong. In fact, it seems that none of the Galaxy AI features are powered by Gemini Nano, not even text-based features like Chat Assist, Note Assist, Transcript Assist, or Browsing Assist. We know this because we tested it: All the Galaxy AI features that work fully offline functioned even when the Gemini Nano model wasn’t downloaded. For example, changing the writing style through Samsung Keyboard, tweaking the spelling and grammar through Samsung Keyboard, transcribing text through Samsung Voice Recorder, and translating text worked without Gemini Nano being present.

Although neither Google nor Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 support Gemini Nano, we know that both phones have it for two simple reasons: They both ship with the AICore service preinstalled, and both support the on-device version of the Google Messages app’s Magic Compose feature. AICore, if you aren’t aware, is an Android system service that handles downloading, updating, and providing an API for the Gemini Nano model. You can tell when the Gemini Nano model has been downloaded by looking at the size of the AICore app; if it’s ~50MB, then the model hasn’t been downloaded yet, but if it’s >~1GB, then it has been downloaded. By clearing the data of the AICore app, enabling the “process data only on device” toggle under Galaxy AI settings, and then testing the various Galaxy AI features, we could confirm that none of the Galaxy AI features use Gemini Nano.

What AI features are powered by Gemini Nano?

So what AI features on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 actually do use Google’s Gemini Nano LLM? Well, we already mentioned one of them: Magic Compose in Google Messages. Magic Compose is a feature in the Google Messages app that suggests a series of possible canned responses that you can send to a contact. In order to offer more personalized responses, Magic Compose uses the last 20 messages in your conversations as context. For better privacy, this whole feature runs entirely on-device for phones with Gemini Nano installed. Oddly, if you check Google’s support page for Magic Compose, it only lists the Pixel 8 Pro and Galaxy S24 series as supporting the on-device version of the feature, but the Messages app itself says that Magic Compose runs on-device on my Galaxy Z Fold 6. We also checked the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and can confirm the same message is present there, too.

There are officially two other AI features that rely on Gemini Nano, but neither of them are available on the Galaxy Z Fold 6, Galaxy Z Flip 6, or Galaxy S24. That’s because Samsung devices don’t have the Pixel Recorder app, so they obviously can’t take advantage of the app’s on-device summarization feature. As for Gboard’s smart reply feature, Samsung devices with Gemini Nano should be capable of supporting it, but it seems it’s not available regardless. The likely reason is that Gboard smart reply requires the AICore service to run persistently in memory, but there isn’t an option to do so on Samsung devices. On the Pixel 8 Pro, for example, there’s an “enable AICore Persistent” option under Settings > Developer Options > AICore Settings.

Although Gemini Nano use is pretty limited right now on the Galaxy S24 series, Galaxy Z Fold 6, and Galaxy Z Flip 6, that might not be true for long, as various third-party apps are preparing to utilize it. Adobe Acrobat will use Gemini Nano to summarize documents on-device, Grammarly will use it to offer on-device grammar suggestions, and Patreon will use it to summarize messages. Plus, you can bet that Google is cooking up more Gemini Nano-powered AI features in its own apps.

Lastly, I’m sure some of you may be wondering: If Samsung isn’t using Gemini Nano for its on-device features, then what is it using? While we don’t know for sure, it’s possible that Galaxy AI is using the Samsung Gauss family of generative AI models, which consists of models for language, coding, and image generation.