Gemini Intelligence has insane HW requirements! You won't run it on Fold7 or the penultimate Pixel

Google introduced Gemini Intelligence at The Android Show developer conference — a new marketing label for the most advanced AI features it currently offers. Under the Gemini Intelligence umbrella are smart multi-step automations in apps, generative widgets, and several other features for which Google spares no superlatives. The catch is that most Android users — including those who bought a Pixel 9 Pro Fold or Galaxy Z Fold7 for tens of thousands last year — won’t get access to them.

The reason lies in the strict hardware requirements that Google published in a footnote on its product page. And from that list, it’s clear that Gemini Intelligence is not a new feature Google is giving away to everyone with Android. It’s a privilege of the newest and most expensive models.

What Gemini Intelligence actually brings

Before we get to who misses out, let’s look at what this is all about. Gemini Intelligence unifies several features under one brand, aiming to shift AI from the realm of “answer my question” to “do it for me.” Specifically:

• Multi-step automations in apps — Gemini itself opens Wolt, selects pizza, fills the cart, finds a school project in Gmail, adds textbooks to the store’s cart. You confirm. It works with visual context, so you can long-press the switch above a list in Notes and say “make this a shopping cart.”
• Intelligent filling — filling out forms where Gemini takes data from linked apps instead of you repeatedly copying the same information. The feature is opt-in, so you must consciously enable it.
• Rambler in Gboard — smart voice input that extracts the essential from your mumbling and discards all “um,” “just,” and “like.” It also handles mixing languages in one sentence, which many Czechs appreciate.
• Create My Widget — custom generative widgets. You say “I want a weather widget that only shows me wind speed and precipitation” and the system creates it for you. It also works on Wear OS watches.
• Gemini in Chrome — summarizing, comparing, and researching via the web, plus automatic browsing for reservations and filling out forms on websites.

Everything is packaged in the updated Material 3 Expressive design, and Google promises that the roll-out will begin in summer 2026 on Pixel 10 and Galaxy S26. Gradually, the feature is expected to reach watches, cars, glasses, and laptops. Gradually. Meaning not to everyone at once and definitely not to all existing phones.

Strict requirements exclude even fresh flagships

The specific requirements are as follows: a flagship chip, at least 12 GB of RAM, AI Core support, and Gemini Nano v3 or higher, a guarantee of at least 5 major Android upgrades, 6 years of security patches at least once a quarter, and meeting quality criteria regarding system stability. A phone that fails to meet even one of these points will not join the club.

The most sensitive point is the requirement for Gemini Nano v3. Google published a list of phones supporting this version on its developer page, and it’s essentially a list of this year’s flagships. Pixel 10 and its entire lineup, including the Pro Fold, Samsung Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra, OnePlus 15 and 15R, Oppo Find X9 and Find X9 Pro, vivo X300 and X300 Pro, iQOO 15, Honor Magic 8 Pro, Motorola Signature, Realme GT 7T.

And now for the painful part: phones with only Gemini Nano v2 are out. In the list of excluded devices, you’ll find, for example:

• Google Pixel 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, and 9 Pro Fold
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 and Galaxy Z TriFold
• OnePlus 13
• Honor Magic V5, Magic 7 i Magic 7 Pro
• Xiaomi 15, 15T, 15T Pro, and even Xiaomi 15 Ultra
• Motorola Razr 60 Ultra

A piquant detail is the 12 GB RAM requirement. Leaks about the Pixel 11, however, suggest that the base model might only have 8 GB of RAM. If this proves true, Google would itself produce a flagship that cannot handle its own latest AI features. That would be a marketing somersault deserving of a separate article. More likely, it indicates that either the Pixel 11 leak is inaccurate, or Google has more holes in its AI strategy than Swiss cheese.

For the average user, this situation has two specific implications. If you’re waiting for a significantly smarter Android, you’ll need to get this year’s flagship. If you have last year’s flagship, resign yourself to the fact that the latest AI features will remain locked for you. And it’s quite an open question whether Google will ever deliver them to you in the future via a system update, or if only “ordinary” Gemini, without that intelligence, will continue to exist for you.

Should Google make AI features available to a wider range of devices, or are strict limitations acceptable?

Source: 9to5Google