Google Launches Gemini Nano 4 and Gemini Intelligence on Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8, Flip 8

Google's Gemini Nano 4 and Gemini Intelligence have launched for the first time on Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8, Fold 8 Ultra, and Flip 8, according to a Google developer blog post published Wednesday. The foldables mark the debut hardware for both the updated on-device model and Google's premium AI feature tier for Android.

Gemini Nano 4 is built on Gemma 4, Google's open model family, and supports more than 140 languages, according to Google. The company also claims the model offers improved multimodal understanding over prior Nano versions, though no specific benchmark scores were disclosed.

Hardware requirements

The Fold 8 and Fold 8 Ultra run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, paired with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM. The Flip 8 instead uses Samsung's own Exynos 2600 chipset with 12GB of RAM.

To support Gemini Intelligence, Google has rewritten its Android developer requirements. The previous "Gemini Nano v3 or higher" spec on android.com has been replaced with a simpler "Nano models on device AI" requirement. The "Qualified SOC" criterion also dropped its previous "flagship" qualifier.

The full list of Gemini Intelligence requirements now includes: on-device Nano model support, the latest media performance class, 12GB or more of RAM, a qualified system-on-chip, meeting service-level objectives in the field through 2026 (with enforcement tightening in 2027), and passing Google's test suite at launch on Android 17 or higher.

What's shipping now vs. later

Google is treating expanded task automation — now covering more than 40 apps — as the first Gemini Intelligence feature to reach these devices. The company had said in May, when Gemini Intelligence was first announced, that additional capabilities would roll out in waves rather than all at once.

Still pending: Create My Widget, a Gboard feature called Rambler, and an Autofill with Google capability that draws on Gemini Personal Intelligence. Google has not given a timeline for when these will reach the Fold 8, Flip 8, or other qualifying devices.

All three Samsung devices carry a "with Gemini Intelligence" badge, which Google says is reserved for "premium hardware" meeting the full spec list above. The upcoming Pixel 11 series is expected to carry the same badge, based on Google's own qualification criteria, though Google has not confirmed this directly.

What this means

Gemini Intelligence functions as a hardware gatekeeper, not just a software feature — Google's spec list ensures only devices with sufficient RAM, approved chipsets, and current media performance classes qualify for the badge. That creates a two-tier Android AI experience: baseline Gemini Nano features for most phones, and a more capable feature set locked to premium hardware from 2026 onward.

The staggered feature rollout, with core capabilities like Create My Widget and Autofill with Google still unavailable at launch, suggests Google is prioritizing hardware certification and badge distribution over feature completeness. Whether the "with Gemini Intelligence" designation becomes a meaningful purchase driver — similar to how 5G or high refresh-rate displays became checkbox features — remains untested until Pixel 11 devices and other Android OEMs adopt the same requirements.