Google Tells iPhone Buyers To 'Just Change Your Phone' After Apple's AI Delays (theverge.com) 55
Google released a 30-second Pixel 10 ad today that mocks Apple's year-long delay in delivering promised AI improvements to Siri on iPhone 16 devices. The ad suggests users could "just change your phone" if they purchased a device for a feature that's been "coming soon for a full year."
So... (Score:3, Informative)
What does AI do for me on my phone?
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Voice recognition. Photo touch-ups. Speech synthesis, for vehicle driver assistance. Text processing that you don't want to delegate to The Cloud (ala Someone Else's Computer), at least for limited capabilities of it.
Re:So... (Score:4, Interesting)
iPhone has all of these capabilities already. They have had it for a few years now. The only thing you might be able to argue is exactly what type of cloud-less text processing you are referring to. But, the reality is that most Apple users don't have any issue with Apple's processing of their text or any other data. But, no one trusts Google, nor should they.
Re:So... (Score:4, Insightful)
that's right, trust apple :'-)
i'mean, i don't want ai on my phone either. whenever i get pestered with it (which is not really often but way too often, lately) a natural reflex to disable/reject/opt-out from it kicks in, cultivated by decades of doing the same with all sort of "assistants", "autocorrects", "clouds" and "fancy services" on all sorts of gadgets.
but you apple fans could really get a sense of humor, it's just an ad, and it's good. just have a healthy laugh, nobody is going to touch your precioussss ... :o)
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no, i don't think there's a difference in that regard. i do use google trying to keep exposure at a practical minimum. this means that i compromise, not that i trust them for one second. there's no reason i couldn't do the same with apple, i just don't like their product better.
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Are those features any good though? Google's voice transcription is better than most humans, and it's all done locally on the phone. At least with my wife's iPhone 16... Max? it's makes frequent mistakes and seems to have a poor microphone.
Another good AI feature iPhone seem to be missing is call screening, call menus, and holding. You can have your phone answer for you and ask who is calling, and what they say appears in real-time on your screen. When you call some numbers it displays menu options as text
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Another good AI feature iPhone seem to be missing is call screening, call menus, and holding.
Call screening and detecting when you've been taken off hold are included in iOS 26, which is available as a beta if you want to have a play around with them.
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Years late but OK. Do they work?
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Give me a use case I actually want or need.
Re: So... (Score:2)
700 million users a week of just ChatGPT have found a use. And that doesn't include OpenAI, Ms Copilot, and Google Gemini.
You might not have a use for it, but millions (most likely billions) of people do.
"not actually intelligent" (Score:2)
Re: So... (Score:1)
âoe700 million users a week of just ChatGPT have found a use. And that doesn't include OpenAIâ
Wait. How come ChatGPT doesnâ(TM)t include OpenAI? OpenAI owned ChatGPT last time I checked.
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But that's got absolutely nothing to do with me or my needs.
Re: So... (Score:2)
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Yeah, I have found multiple uses for ChatGPT. A novel one: I tracked down the details of a distribution company that was pretending to be American. Found out the real country(s) of origin and learned plenty about how their deception works. Purely out of interest, not intention of taking action.
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Why would you need electric lights when a candle is just fine for reading!
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Speech and text translation.
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Exactly.
I don't want or need "AI".
Why would I change my phone for it?
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And its less about what AI does for you and what meaningful feature are there, whether AI or algorithm based. AI is becoming a buzz word for "we don't really have a strong feature, so blah, blah, blah, AI... or something".
very little (Score:2)
Or I could just... not use Siri and keep my phone? (Score:4, Interesting)
I am happy with my iPhone. Except for the headphone jack issue.
Siri is... fine? I have no need to upgrade to get a better Siri. It does what I want it to do. Why would I switch my entire phone ecosystem, including the vast integration I have with iTunes for my phone, for better AI?
Dumb take.
System wide AI, no thank you! (Score:1)
AI is not that important to me (Score:2)
Google doesn't exactly hold the moral high ground (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a bit rich to hear this line coming from the company that's infamous for abandoning products after a short life span with no warning.
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It's a bit rich to hear this line coming from the company that's infamous for abandoning products after a short life span with no warning.
Plus different variations of we supposedly can't *just* switch phones is at the root of every Apple monopoly argument. Because of green chat bubbles, or the private walled garden we can't *possibly* leave on a whim... but really people just want in on it.
Did anyone buy an iPhone specifically for AI? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, there are those that buy every new iteration, but I doubt even those were jumping for the promised AI. Most people buy new phones when the old one quits working, or it breaks. So, is there anyone outside of the extremely small but very vocal AI prophet crowd that bought an iPhone on the promise of better AI? If so, what was it they were hoping that AI would do for them that can't be done some other way? Or was it just the new promised shiny that drew you in?
I think the push for AI everything that seems to have the tech world all aflutter hasn't really trickled down to the common userbase. It's barely trickled down to the tech-oriented userbase. I know *ONE* person out of dozens that are tech-oriented that is excited about AI. The rest are essentially testing it here or there and waiting for a use-case that provides something to them, rather than just being used as a data-gathering excuse by the AI owners. Am I living in some alternate reality, or is this the general experience? If so, is this ad really just preaching to a vanishingly small choir?
Everything but a link to the actual ad? (Score:5, Informative)
Here's the ad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
No AI? Don't promise me a good time (Score:5, Insightful)
I do not know a single person who wishes their phone did more AI crap. Honestly, Apple could probably release a "never AI" version of the iPhone and a lot of folks would love it.
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Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.
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Then maybe you should leave house from time to time and meet people.
Same people? (Score:2)
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It's a bit disingenuous to relate Gmail in it's beta period, which was widely available on a bunch of devices and not really advertised, with a widely advertised non-existent key feature of a phone that has been sold for a year.
AI is not ready for average person (Score:2)
Couldn't disable Google Gemini fast enough.. (Score:3)
Hey Google (Score:2)
How long did it take you to offer more than 3-years of OS support for your Pixel phones, like Apple has done with iPhones for, like, forever? My Pixel 5a would like an update...
That's nothing. (Score:3)
Tesla has been promising "Full Self Driving" for what, 10 years [wikipedia.org]? And they charged people much more than the cost of an iPhone for it.
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Dear Google... (Score:2)
AI on an Android phone isn't the flex you think it is.
You guys aren't ready... (Score:2)
I guess you guys aren't ready for AI yet. But your kids are going to love it.
Lost touch with customers (Score:1)
Throw stones glass houses something something (Score:2)
And while you are at it... (Score:2)
I don't need AI...... (Score:2)
I'm a Android user thinking to switch to Apple (Score:2)
Because I have the Google Nest Camera and the software (Google Home) on Android is so bad when compared to the one on the Iphone and Apple Watch.
And Gemini AI is so bad when compared to the old Google Assistant.
Google's logic bad news for the Nest Hub (Score:1)
The problem is Google removed it and several other promoted features [9to5google.com] at the end of Feb 2024 (which is over a year ago). There was never a reasonable replacement for it provided. The hub "experience" has never really gotten better, just less "intelligent" a