Samsung's Galaxy S25 supports Google's multimodal Gemini Nano AI model
by Mishaal Rahman · Android PoliceIf you caught the Samsung Galaxy S25 launch today, you probably heard one word a lot: AI. It's the hottest trend in tech right now. Samsung talked up its new Galaxy AI features at Unpacked, and a bunch of them run directly on the device thanks to the improved chipset. This new chipset also brings support for Google’s latest multimodal Gemini Nano model, which was a Pixel exclusive until recently.
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Gemini Nano is the smallest in Google’s Gemini family of large language models. It's designed to run directly on phones, which have less memory and tighter power limits than PCs and cloud servers. There are currently two versions of Gemini Nano for Android, both based on the Gemini 1.0 models.
First up, there's the original Gemini Nano that launched with the Pixel 8 series in late 2023. This one only works with text, so it powers things like Magic Compose in Google Messages, but not a whole lot else. You can find this version of Gemini Nano on a bunch of Android phones, including some Samsung models.
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Then there's the updated Gemini Nano that showed up with the Pixel 9 series last year. This one's multimodal, meaning it handles not just text, but also images, voice, and audio. This beefed-up model powers Pixel 9 exclusives like Call Notes and Pixel Screenshots. It also powers on-device AI image descriptions in TalkBack, an Android accessibility feature that reads what's on the screen. The Galaxy S25 also has this feature, using Google’s multimodal Gemini Nano to make it happen.
Before today’s launch, Google let us know that TalkBack image descriptions on the Samsung Galaxy S25 would be powered by Gemini. We asked Google if these descriptions were generated by Gemini on the device itself or in the cloud, and a spokesperson told us this:
"Yes, image descriptions for TalkBack make use of Gemini Nano and will use on-device models with multimodality. TalkBack is the first Samsung and first non-Google app to use AI Core." - Google spokesperson
We also verified the Galaxy S25 supports Google’s multimodal Gemini Nano model. The AICore app on the Galaxy S25 we checked out took up 4GB of space, just like on the Pixel 9. But on the Galaxy Z Fold 6, the same app only took up 1GB since it downloaded the smaller, text-only version.
When we turned on automatic image descriptions in TalkBack, it told us it needed to download a model to work. This model is needed because the images are processed right on the device, not in the cloud. But before we could download it, we had to agree to Google’s Generative AI Terms of Service, which confirmed they were using their model for this.
If you use TalkBack as your screen reader, you’ll probably get a lot of use out of this on the Samsung Galaxy S25. Tons of images online don't have descriptions, but this feature helps you understand what they're showing anyway. Google recently gave developers early access to a Gemini Nano API, so hopefully we'll see some cool new uses for the AI. Now that the OnePlus 13 and Samsung Galaxy S25 support it, there's even more reason for developers to jump on board.
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