A few days ago, Google announced Gemini Intelligence, which appears to be much more than a rebranding effort. It’s truly an impressive set of features that can, among other things, automate multi-step tasks and execute them completely automatically in the background, including retrieving and transforming information and interacting with various apps and websites autonomously on your behalf. There’s even a “Rambler” component coming to Gboard that lets you speak freely without any and all filler or crutch words that most of us use unconsciously, and even mix languages in the same sentence. Crazy stuff. If you haven’t seen the demo in the linked article yet, do so.
However, don’t expect to see Gemini Intelligence on any old Android device. As far as we currently know, the feature will likely debut on Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Z Fold8 and Z Flip8 devices, and Google has confirmed that the Galaxy S26 series and Pixel 10 series will also get it “this summer.”
Meanwhile, a footnote on the official android.com website portrays the Gemini Intelligence as something really premium and exclusive, at least for now. The stated requirements include at least 12 GB of RAM, so running Gemini Intelligence on a device of whatever model is expected to be quite difficult. Naturally, the host device also needs to support AICore, which is an Android system service that exposes an API for apps to perform AI tasks on top of the on-device Gemini Nano model. Gemini Intelligence specifically mentions that it requires Gemini Nano v3 or higher, and currently there are only a few devices that actually support it.
On top of this, there are also some more arbitrary requirements listed for Gemini Intelligence, such as “qualified SOC (flagship chip)”, passing quality in launch test suites on the A17+, and meeting quality in the field requirements like low crash rate. The device will also have to offer 5 OS upgrades and six years of quarterly security updates, as well as support for Android Virtualization Framework (AVF) and PKVM (Protected Kernel-based Virtual Machine). There’s even a vague line for “Media performance (latest): spatial audio, low light, HDR; gaming: annual GGI+ driver update” as implemented.
This is indeed a very exclusive club of devices. In fact, it’s perhaps interesting to point out that recently leaked specifications for the Google Pixel 11 family suggest that the non-Pro models may be available with at least 8GB of RAM. So then, no Gemini intelligence for them? Your guess is as good as ours, but it doesn’t seem right.