Apple iPhone versus Samsung Galaxy suddenly gets more interesting
Updated on October 27 with online speculation on the release of the One UI 7 beta, which will bring the delayed Android 15 update to Samsung’s Galaxy devices.
There’s a new divide coming for our smartphones, one that could completely change how we view the iPhone versus Android debate that has built a global duopoly — notwithstanding Huawei’s current push to add a third seat to that table.
Google and Samsung have powered ahead of Apple when it comes to smartphone AI, with the latest Pixel 9 almost AI in a box and Galaxy AI dominating Samsung’s marketing messages and device updates. But there’s a serious security and privacy issue that has not yet garnered the attention it warrants — but it will.
Apple’s answer is to redefine cloud security with the same rock solid assurances it claims for its iPhone. The company is so confident that it is offering up to $1m for anyone proving it wrong, and has now opened up its tech for researchers to try to break it. This will become the next iteration of what happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone, but adapted for a new era where that is no longer true.
In a new blogpost, Apple heralds the “groundbreaking privacy and security protections” underpinning Apple Intelligence, which — just like its Android equivalents — will run out of on-device juice and will need to push some of the processing to the cloud. Its answer is Private Cloud Compute. This ensures that “personal user data sent to PCC isn’t accessible to anyone other than the user — not even to Apple,” the company explained, adding, “we believe PCC is the most advanced security architecture ever deployed for cloud AI compute at scale.”
That isn’t to say that Google’s and Samsung’s cloud AI are inherently insecure. But the hybrid model that restricts sensitive processing to device-only is not the same as creating an extension of the device enclave in the cloud, one that relies on Apple’s own silicon on both sides to ensure the integrity of the setup.
Apple promised from the start that it would enable independent verification of its claims on an ongoing basis, and it has now done exactly that. “Today we’re making resources publicly available to invite all security and privacy researchers — or anyone with interest and a technical curiosity — to learn more about PCC and perform their own independent verification of our claims.”
And they’re backing this up financially. “We’re excited to announce that we’re expanding Apple Security Bounty to include PCC, with significant rewards for reports of issues with our security or privacy claims.” Those significant rewards equate to $1 million for “arbitrary code execution with arbitrary entitlements,” and lower level bounties for compromises of user data or requests.
As I said when PCC was first announced, “if this works as billed, it could redefine smartphone AI and erect hurdles for [Apple’s] rivals that could be almost impossible to leap. A closed ecosystem of device and cloud silicon, with an almost end-to-end encrypted philosophy applied to any AI queries or data leaving a user’s device, such that it is quasi-anonymized and enclaved and assured to such an extent that an external researcher could provide third-party accreditation.”
What happens next will be fascinating and will define this new space for years to come. Apple says it believes this “is the most advanced security architecture ever deployed for cloud AI compute at scale,” and that “verifiable transparency [is] a unique property that sets it apart from other server-based AI approaches.”
As I commented before, “Samsung has no answer to this—suddenly its hybrid AI approach seems crude and underwhelming. Apple is offering the best of both worlds, and is willing to promise its users that ‘your data is never stored or made accessible [even] to Apple’ even in the cloud, while offering the best and brightest generative AI that cannot be completed on-device only. PCC, in theory at least, redefines the space.”
Now Samsung needs an answer to PCC. As with its clampdown on sideloading and its deployment of a Knox ecosystem to compete with Apple’s equivalent, this needs the same recognition that the table stakes for security and privacy have expanded hugely in recent years. Just look to Android 15, which is primarily a security and privacy update and which, ironically, Samsung has delayed for Galaxy devices.
Samsung is by far the dominant Android OEM and it now has a chance to respond to PCC. But to do so it needs to determine how much of its device AI will be its own and how much will be Google’s. I fear that Google’s cloud-centric AI philosophy, notwithstanding Gemini Nano, will make this tricky to navigate. Apple meanwhile may buy itself the time it needs to catch up on the AI features themselves.
The challenge for Samsung will take another turn before the end of 2024, with new reports suggesting Google is set to launch Gemini 2.0 in December. “OpenAI is eyeing a December debut for its next flagship AI model,” according to The Verge. “Fittingly, Google is also aiming to release its next major Gemini 2.0 model in the same month.”
With ChatGPT debuting on iPhones before then, which will prompt plenty of articles on iPhone’s ability to otherwise to push prompts to OpenAI without compromising user security versus doing the same into Gemini from Pixels and Samsungs.
Commenting on the latest reports, Android Headlines says that “although we now have a potential Gemini 2.0 announcement and release date, it’s still unclear what new features may be coming along with the version update. Google has also yet to confirm any details about the launch or what the new model will bring to the table.”
And this is the crux. How will Google—and by proxy, Samsung—respond to Apple’s AI deployment with iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2 by that point.
Samsung’s approach to secure and private AI is more robust than Google’s. “We recognize the importance of privacy which is why we give users full control over what they share and what they keep private,” the company says. “We believe our hybrid approach is the most practical and reliable solution to meet all these needs and puts Samsung ahead of the curve. We are providing users with a balance between the instant responsiveness and extra privacy assurance of on-device AI, and the versatility of cloud-based AI through open collaborations with industry-leading partners in offering a variety of functions they need for daily life.”
But Samsung phones carry Gemini as well. And that means the offerings are not fully under Samsung’s control. And that is the difference the company needs to address as it responds to Apple. This will feature heavily when Gemini 2.0 launches, coming at about the same time as Apple’s most material upgrade to its own iPhone AI with iOS 18.2. An interesting few months ahead, but thus far at least, there’s nothing to suggest an answer to Apple’s PCC is waiting in the wings.
But maybe—just maybe—this won’t be as important as all the hype suggests. At least not yet. CNET has just reported that “a quarter of smartphone owners (25%) don’t find AI features helpful, 45% are reluctant to pay a monthly subscription fee for AI capabilities and 34% have privacy concerns. A little over half (52%) of smartphone owners have no interest in purchasing a foldable phone. [And] the biggest motivation for US adult smartphone owners to upgrade their devices is longer battery life (61%), followed by more storage (46%) and better camera features (38%). Just 18% say their main motivator is AI integrations.”
The iPhone versus Galaxy backdrop is made worse for Samsung fans by the long delays to its release of One UI 7—its iteration of Android 15, even in beta form. Following the delay confirmed at Samsung’s recent SDC, fan sites are a mix of frustration at the delays and speculation as to what’s to come.
That excitement escalated this weekend with fake banners and posts suggesting the One UI 7 beta had arrived. “No,” SamMobile responded. “Samsung has not started the One UI 7.0 beta program,” explaining that “Samsung fans on X may have come across a post suggesting that the One UI 7.0 beta program is open for registrations, but is that actually the case? It’s not. It seems to be another attempt to gain some views from an X user who we have caught posting fake information on the social media platform about upcoming Samsung devices.”
Hardly a surprising move and you can expect more of this, both before the beta release and then before the stable release in 2025. “The user manipulated an image to make it seem like Samsung put up a One UI 7.0 beta program banner in the Samsung Members app and seems to be trolling Samsung fans who are anxiously waiting for the day they will finally be able to take One UI 7.0 and Android 15 for a spin.”
If Samsung is now under pressure from Apple’s PCC move, with no answer as yet to this “ground-breaking” new cloud security, then it’s under even more pressure from Google which has pushed out Android 15 months before it can do the same.
Android 15 is awash with security and privacy upgrades, the current pick is Google’s new theft protection, which can both predict when a phone snatch might have taken place and also lock down a device to prevent access to personal information. That will be followed by the even more critical live threat detection, which will use on-device AI to flag potential malware-laced apps based on their behaviors. This will looks likely to include permission abuse, which plagues Android users.
Android 15 also includes smart new cellular defense technologies, a first for any mainstream smartphone OS. This will warn users when potentially fake cellular base stations are pinging devices for phone or SIM identifiers or pushing those devices onto unsecured cellular connections. This requires new modem software working closely with the Android 15 OS, and isn’t even available on the Pixel 9 as yet, despite turning up in a beta realise of the new firmware by mistake.
It remains unclear how many of the new Android 15 security and privacy features will make the way into the One UI 7 beta release or the stable release which will be timed to hit devices as the Galaxy S25 Series launches. There are certainly questions around cellular defense and live threat protection. I have asked Samsung if these will make it into their own OS, and will update and and when I get some clarity.
Meanwhile, plenty of questions for millions of Galaxy users caught between the wait to get Android 15 and the wait to see how Samsung responds to Apple’s PCC—assuming Apple has called it right and this will become the next privacy-focused marketing message differentiating flagships. Samsung has certainly worked hard to match Apple’s current levels of security and privacy, narrowing the gap between iPhone and its version of Android, so it seems likely it will look hard at this as well.
Meanwhile, SammyFans confirms that “Samsung hasn’t officially started the One UI 7 Beta Program while an alleged ad has been circulating online. The screenshot screens the Samsung Members app’s interface, with the One UI 7 Beta ad placed in the carousel slider. The One UI 7 Beta ad has a brand-new graphical appearance, showcasing three developers crafting the software. I can’t say it is a completely fake image, but the Beta Program hasn’t yet been announced for Galaxy consumers.”
And so that wait and see continues. “Samsung has neither announced the beta nor teased it through Community. The Beta Program of One UI 7 will start by the end of the year. However, the final version will be unveiled during the Galaxy S25 launch event.”
For those with Galaxy devices, the latest information on which phones are likely to get the update—albeit that won’t be confirmed until the beta at the earliest, has been updated again this week. Per SamMobile, this is the likely list:
Galaxy S series
- Galaxy S24 Ultra
- Galaxy S24+
- Galaxy S24
- Galaxy S23 Ultra
- Galaxy S23+
- Galaxy S23
- Galaxy S23 FE
- Galaxy S22 Ultra
- Galaxy S22+
- Galaxy S22
- Galaxy S21 FE
- Galaxy S21 Ultra
- Galaxy S21+
- Galaxy S21
Galaxy Z series
- Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition
- Galaxy Z Fold 6
- Galaxy Z Fold 5
- Galaxy Z Flip 6
- Galaxy Z Flip 5
- Galaxy Z Fold 4
- Galaxy Z Flip 4
- Galaxy Z Fold 3
- Galaxy Z Flip 3
Galaxy A series
- Galaxy A73
- Galaxy A55
- Galaxy A54
- Galaxy A53
- Galaxy A35
- Galaxy A34
- Galaxy A33
- Galaxy A25
- Galaxy A24
- Galaxy A23
- Galaxy A15 (LTE+5G)
- Galaxy A14 (LTE+5G)
- Galaxy A16 (LTE+5G)
Galaxy Tab series
- Galaxy Tab S10+
- Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra
- Galaxy Tab S9 FE+
- Galaxy Tab S9 FE
- Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra (Wi-Fi/5G)
- Galaxy Tab S9+ (Wi-Fi/5G)
- Galaxy Tab S9 (Wi-Fi/5G)
- Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra (Wi-Fi/5G)
- Galaxy Tab S8+ (Wi-Fi/5G)
- Galaxy Tab S8 (Wi-Fi/5G)
Galaxy F series
- Galaxy F55
- Galaxy F54
- Galaxy F34
- Galaxy F15
Galaxy M series
- Galaxy M55s
- Galaxy M55
- Galaxy M54
- Galaxy M34
- Galaxy M53
- Galaxy M33
- Galaxy M15
