Galaxy AI vs Google AI: Who’s doing it better?

At this point, the two AI models practically share the same AI capabilities. The only notable difference is that Google AI comes with a dedicated AI chatbot, Gemini Live—a feature that lets you have voice conversations with Google's AI on your phone. You can talk to it the same way you would with a real person, and it will talk back in a realistic-sounding tone. You can use it to brainstorm, explore topics, and even discuss images or videos.

That said, Samsung phones can easily access Gemini Live via the Gemini app from the Play Store. That is as long as you pay for Gemini Advanced. Thankfully, Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 series comes with 6 months free of Gemini Advanced, so you can try out Gemini Live and see how you like it.

Text, Translation and Summarization

Let’s start with the AI features that are most commonly used—the ones that deal with text. Both phones do a great job here, as they should considering this is one of the parts AI excels at.

Text summary is arguably the most useful AI feature. It saves you a ton of time eliminating the need to go through a full body of text. But I don’t completely trust it to give me all of the right tidbits of information, which is why I find Samsung’s approach better in this case, as it gives me the option to choose between a “Standard” and “Detailed” version. I tend to go for the detailed version as that way there’s less of a chance of missing something important.

Google does not offer you a choice in how the AI will summarize text, but you, of course, have the option to activate the assistant via the power button and give it a more specific command, like “Give me a concise summary of the text from this article.” That said, my opinion is that this is not as user-friendly and simple as what you have with Galaxy AI.

Something worth pointing out is that Galaxy AI can only summarize websites in the Samsung Internet app and notes in Samsung Notes, but there are workarounds. For example, you can log into your email via the Samsung Internet app and use the "Browsing Assist" feature to have emails summarized that way.

Another super useful feature of these AI models is the ability to transcribe voice recordings. It seems like this is a pretty easy job for both. The transcriptions are accurate and they can discern between multiple people, marking them as Speaker 1, Speaker 2, etc. I do prefer the Galaxy’s layout in the recorder app though, as you have all settings at the bottom of the screen, whereas on the Pixel some of them are at the top right corner.

Google offers smart replies whenever you receive a message or inquiry. Samsung does not have auto replies, but it does have an AI Composer inside the Samsung Keyboard. In fact, thanks to a recent update you can utilize AI Composer even if you use Gboard on your Samsung phone.

Image and Video Editing

Both AI models come with Circle to Search, which works identically between the two given that it is a part of Android.

Image generation is very different between Galaxy AI and Google AI. Samsung has yet to add a feature that lets you generate images based on text input. You do have a Sketch to Image feature that lets you draw something on the screen and use that drawing to prompt AI versions of it. Google, on the other hand, lacks Sketch to Image but you can give it precise commands via text.

And, of course, like any other self-respecting phone AI, both Google and Samsung offer an object eraser tool that removes—well—objects from images. The results on both are mixed, sometimes you get a seamless removal and other times it is apparent that such a procedure was carried out.

Google also has neat features like Photo Unblur, which can save images in which the subject is out of focus. It mostly works if the blur has happened because of slow shutter speed, but it can be useful every now and then. Samsung also offers an unblur feature in its Galaxy Enhance-X app, and even though it was initially a Pixel exclusive feature, Photo Unblur is also available for Galaxy phones via the Google Photos app.

Exclusive Features

Google:

Summarizing voice calls

This feature allows the Pixel to summarize your recorder voice calls. It is typically highly accurate as long as the call on the other side is clear, and it can come in handy when you need to remember something but don’t have a pen and paper nearby to write it down.

Video Boost

Google's Video Boost is a feature available on Pixel phones that enhances video quality by processing HDR+ video in the cloud. It balances the lighting, boosts the colors and improves color accuracy and stabilizes the image. The end result is a more cinematic and visually appealing video.

The major downside that Google doesn’t talk about, however, is just how long it takes for a video to be “boosted.” For example, a 20-second clip would take around 3-4 hours to get processed. Not to mention that we noticed visible benefits primarily when we used the feature on low-light videos.

Samsung might not have its own version of Video Boost, but that might be because it doesn’t need one. The S25 Ultra already handles low-light video recording really well, especially with the main camera. Even its new 50 MP ultra-wide achieves some pretty good image quality while recording at night, and keep in mind these cameras are usually the worst in such conditions.

Add Me

The Add Me feature that allows Pixel users to take two group photos and combine them to make it appear like everyone was there is still an exclusive feature to Pixel phones.

Best Take

Google is known for its creative use of AI to enhance its phone’s camera capabilities. Besides Add Me, Best Take is another great example. It allows you to replace a person’s expression with a more suitable one. Samsung does not offer such a feature, but it does have Single Take, which captures a series of photos and short videos with one tap, offering a variety of options.

Samsung:

Energy Score

The Galaxy AI Energy Score (Galaxy Watch/Ring) tracks sleep, activity, and heart rate data to provide a daily energy score (out of 100) and personalized wellness tips in Samsung Health. This helps users understand and improve their energy levels by offering data-driven insights on sleep, exercise, and stress management. It requires consistent wear of one of Samsung’s accessories though, and regular Samsung Health syncing.

Live Translate/Interpreter

While both Galaxy AI and Google AI have a Live Translate feature, the one on Samsung phones goes a step further. Not only do you get captions with a translation, but the phone will also speak out said translation. In our testing this feature didn’t work perfectly—it was sometimes inaccurate and kind of slow—but it’s nice to have it as an option.

And, speaking of options, this is one more feature that Samsung allows users to customize. You can choose the voice that the person on the other end will hear. You can also decide whether to have both speakers' real voices muted, leaving only the translation to be audible. You can even adjust the speed of the interpreter.

Final Thoughts

There are a couple of things that stood out to me. First of all, when it comes to unique features, Google AI offers a lot more “toy” features that can be useful from time to time like Add Me or Best take. This is not a big surprise, as Google has always been rather creative with its use of AI, but I was left with the impression that Samsung had caught up to in the last couple of years. Alas, that was not the case.

What Samsung has going for it is the level of customization it offers in how you want the AI features to act. A great example is the ability to choose how you want text on a web page to be summarized.

Also, Google seems to rely more heavily on cloud computing, which not only makes the Google AI features slower but also unavailable whenever the user is offline. This is where the flagship processors Samsung uses for its high-end phones come in handy.

But this reveals something deeper—Google’s goal is broader than Samsung's, some might even say deeper. The benefit of Google’s Gemini assistant and the rest of its AI suite of features is that they are widely available. Numerous other Phone manufacturers are announcing their partnership with Google to let their customers know that they won’t be falling behind in the AI race.

Samsung might be a big shot, but just like the other manufacturers, it is dependent on Google AI. In other words, Google has spread its roots wide, ensuring its name is always mentioned and heard one way or another, which just might prove to be the smarter move.