Pushing forward on the AI-powered smartphone agenda, Google’s launch of the Pixel 8 series has hit a snag. Even though both Pixel 8 and 8 pro had boasted of advanced AI features in their marketing, it seems the standard Pixel 8 won’t get the full AI experience.
This news comes after months of criticism concerning the limited capabilities of the Pixel 8 when it comes to implementing AI as opposed to what is published. Many relied on cloud processing for some of its functionalities thus raising concerns about real on-device AI potentials.
Google admits that they made mistakes with the Pixel 8. The company discloses that despite having similar specs to the Pro versions, there are no hardware-supported “Gemini Nano” AI language models.
Why? Hardware constraints according to Google will make Gemini Nano not be able to run on a Pixel 8. It is surprising considering that the only known difference in hardware between these two phones is RAM (12GB vs. 8GB). Specifically, the Samsung Galaxy S24 manages to run Gemini Nano with just 8GB RAM.
This revelation puts owners of Pixel 8 with a phone that does not have complete AI powers. Some features may still implement artificial intelligence but the phone will definitely lack those extraordinary on-device abilities promised by Google’s advertising and which were present in Pixel 8 Pro as well.
