I’m a longtime iPhone user who is also interested in AI experiences like ChatGPT. Until last week, I was fine with Apple being behind rivals with its Apple Intelligence features. I was also okay with waiting for Apple to deploy its AI features in Europe.
But it turns out that the Apple Intelligence feature I was most looking forward to, the smarter Siri, is vaporware. Suddenly, the gap between Apple and its rivals is incredibly large.
Apple’s AI misstep is easily the biggest fumble in AI tech since ChatGPT became viral in late 2022. Google Search AI Overviews recommending glue on pizza looks like a minor glitch in comparison. I wish Siri AI could make such mistakes.
I didn’t mention Google accidentally. Gemini is a big win for the company in light of the Apple Intelligence mess. Given Google’s massive lead, Gemini was always the superior product. But Apple delivered a vision at WWDC 2024 that not even Google could match.
All generative AI software solutions are getting to a place where AI behaves increasingly like a personal assistant, where AI agents do things on your behalf. That was what Apple said Siri would do in iOS 18. After last week, it’s unclear whether we’ll have to wait until iOS 19, iOS 20, or later for that sort of advanced Siri functionality in Apple Intelligence.
That’s why I agree with John Gruber’s take that Google has a massive and potentially unique chance to humiliate Apple Intelligence at I/O 2025 in May without ever mentioning Apple, the iPhone, or Apple Intelligence by name. It should totally do it, too.
I’ve told you for years how the iPhone was essentially Google’s North Star when designing the Pixel. Google would often criticize Apple’s iPhone only to then repeat the same play when it came to next-gen Pixels.
But Google has slowly found its identity, and the Gemini addition certainly makes the Pixel phones more compelling than ever. I wrote last August that the Pixel 9 is Google’s best weapon against Apple Intelligence, a Hail Mary against the AI iPhones that were coming.
Google pushed up the Pixel 9 launch by two months to beat Apple Intelligence to the market. I explained how the Pixel 9 series took advantage of a big Apple hardware miscalculation. Apple Intelligence brought us the biggest fragmentation in iOS history, at least on paper. Phones like the non-Pro iPhone 15 models were no good for Apple’s AI.
This fragmentation leveled the playing field for Google. The Pixel 9 had a big chance to impress buyers with AI features before Apple Intelligence iPhones arrived.
After last week, it’s clear that Google is the big winner when it comes to built-in AI features on phones. The iOS fragmentation doesn’t even matter given that Apple Intelligence, as it is now on iPhone, means little to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 users. The Pixel 9, meanwhile, has much better built-in AI features that Google keeps perfecting.
I expect I/O 2025 to focus heavily on Google’s next-gen AI plans. That’s what happened last year and the year before that. AI is very much the talk of the town in tech. Gemini might be much better than Apple Intelligence, but it’s still not the first AI that comes to mind. That role is still reserved for ChatGPT, my go-to genAI software right now.
Google could very well hit Apple’s AI problems during the presentation, and Gruber came up with the best way for Google to do it. The company could replicate Apple’s smart Siri demos from WWDC 2024 but do it with Gemini software on Pixel 9 phones. Here’s Gruber’s full quote:
What I would do if I worked at Google is prepare a live demo of Google Gemini on a Pixel phone doing exactly what Apple showed in last year’s announcement at WWDC, and then again in the Bella Ramsey TV commercial that Apple pulled from YouTube. Something like this:
Presenter: This is a live demo, on my Pixel 9. I need to pick my mom up at the airport and she sent me an email with her flight information. [Invokes Gemini on phone in hand…] Gemini, when is my mom’s flight landing?
Gemini: Your mom’s flight is on time, and arriving at SFO at 11:30.
Presenter: I don’t always remember to add things to my calendar, and so I love that Gemini can help me keep track of plans that I’ve made in casual conversation, like this lunch reservation my mom mentioned in a text. [Invokes Gemini…] What’s our lunch plan?
Gemini: You’re having lunch at Waterbar at 12:30.
Presenter: How long will it take us to get there from the airport?
Gemini presents a Google Maps driving directions popup window showing it will take 21 minutes.
Then do another live demo with the “What’s the name of the guy I had a meeting with a couple of months ago at Cafe Grenel?” example from Apple’s now-pulled Apple Intelligence commercial. The exact same demos, but real: live and on stage. These would be great demos even if Apple had never promised to deliver them. But given that Apple did promise them for this year, and has now delayed them until “the coming year”, they’re devastating if Google can show them actually working on Apple’s own original timeline.
Can Gemini do all that? The current model can at least partially provide behavior similar to what Apple imagined for Siri. Gemini can interact with your screen and tell you what’s on it (Circle to Search). The AI is also integrated into built-in Google apps on Pixel phones, such as Gmail, Messages, Calendar, Maps, and Photos.
Also, Google just announced more personalization features coming to Gemini, starting with the AI’s ability to look at your Google Search data.
I imagine that whatever AI novelties Google shows at I/O 2025 would take Gemini to the next level, especially if Android XR gets ample time at the show. That’s Google’s AI/AR operating system for smart glasses and spatial computers. You need Gemini to be more personal and act as a true assistant before you can launch smart glasses with advanced AI functionality.
With all that in mind, Google can and should destroy Apple Intelligence on stage at I/O. I say that as an Apple fan and someone who won’t ditch the iPhone or ChatGPT in favor of Pixel phones and Gemini AI. Apple has to feel this loss and deal with all the fallout.
Whatever happens, I’m certain Google will not fake AI demos at I/O. It did that with the first Gemini demos, and everybody noticed. Whether it makes fun of Apple or not, Google will surely host live demos of its Pixel AI features.
Also, I’m not sure Google can mock Apple as Gruber suggests without making it very clear it’s the iPhone and Apple Intelligence they’re laughing at.
Finally, I’ll also say that I still expect smart Siri to be available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac in the future, and I’m willing to wait a while longer.
