Apple’s still slowly trickling down all of the Apple Intelligence features the company first unveiled at WWDC 2024 earlier in the year, but the iOS 18.2 public beta finally unlocks Image Playground. I only needed to wait a short while after requesting early access to the iPhone’s new image generator, but it comes after Google’s Pixel Studio for its new Pixel 9 phones.
I know very well how helpful the best AI image generators are, so I wanted to test how the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Pixel 9 Pro XL handle the same prompts. There are other differences between them, like how Image Playground can generate images based on photos of yourself or other people, but for this comparison, I’m simply going to judge them based on how accurate they are with the prompts I give them.
Since they have their limitations, like how they’re unable to create photos of specific people from scratch, I’ve asked Google Gemini to come up with a handful of prompts for me to put them through these image generators. Here’s what I found.
Your royal catness
The first prompt that Google Gemini gave me was “a cat wearing a crown, sitting on a throne made of yarn.” First of all, the biggest difference between them is that Pixel Studio has a more realistic look — rather than the cartoon-like creation of Image Playground.
More importantly, though, Pixel Studio has the more accurate creation because the cat is sitting on a throne that appears to be made out of yarn. In contrast, Image Playground has a generic throne for the cat.
Winner: Pixel Studio
The circle of life
This next one has Lion King vibes because it reminds me of that scene with a grown Simba at the top of Proud Rock. I gave both AI image generators the prompt of “a majestic lion with a flowing mane, perched atop a towering rock overlooking a vast savanna.”
Again, Pixel Studio comes away with the more accurate image, mainly due to its realism and how it takes into consideration all of the details. While it’s good on its own, the more animated look from Image Playground suffers from one snafu that's hard to overlook — the fact that it has three hind legs and something doesn’t appear right with its front paw.
Winner: Pixel Studio
Cloud City
Call it one of the more original prompts that Google Gemini gave, I thought this one would trip up the two image generators. This prompt calls for “a city floating in the clouds, connected by bridges made of rainbows.”
Rightfully so, this one gave them a bit of trouble — especially with the bridges made of rainbows. Neither one actually followed through with that prompt, nor am I convinced that either of them were of a city floating in the clouds. There are rainbows in both, but they’re not in the guise of a highway. However, Image Playground has a couple of bridges in it. For these reasons, I’ll give it to Apple.
Winner: Image Playground
Hello mister roboto
I’m not sure how Image Playground completely botches this prompt, but there’s no comparison here because Pixel Studio gets everything right. The prompt was “a robot made of flowers, watering other flowers in a garden.” As you can clearly see, Pixel Studio hits it on the bullseye.
Even though it looks more like a creature made out of leaves, Pixel Studio’s image gets everything else right — including how it’s watering the flowers in the garden. Meanwhile, Image Playground has what’s distinctively a robot, but the entire image discards everything else I mentioned in the prompt.
Winner: Pixel Studio
Game of dragons
I thought this was going to be an easy one for Pixel Studio, but it actually does something weird with the prompt: a tiny dragon curled up asleep in a teacup. Don’t get me wrong, I much prefer how much more detailed it is, but the fact that the dragon appears to be going through the teacup gives Image Playground the win.
The only oddity in the Image Playground image is that I can’t tell if the dragon is sleeping with one eye open or not. It’s hard to tell, but the rest of the image is accurate.
Winner: Image Playground
Cowabunga ninja turtles
Switching things up for this next prompt, I wanted to give both something familiar. I used the prompt “teenage mutant ninja turtle fighting a one eyed giant rat” for Pixel Studio, then “turtles in ninja costumes fighting a one eyed giant rat” for Image Playground because it wouldn’t work if I asked for “teenage mutant ninja turtles.”
Neither one gets the prompt 100% correct, but Pixel Studio is way closer to it because it has a giant two-eyed rat in the image. In comparison, Image Playground generates a couple of reptile looking ninja turtles just staring into space.
Winner: Pixel Studio
M
For this last prompt, I gave it something simple and relatable to what I love doing of late — driving EVs. The prompt is for a “sporty red car at the beach with a volleyball net in the background.”
Between them, Pixel Studio is more convincing partly because of how it looks awfully like a Porsche — versus the Mustang look from the 60s that Image Playground produces. Both image generators, however, get the prompt 100% correct with the beachside scene and volleyball net in the background.
Winner: tie
Verdict
For this test, Pixel Studio comes out on top because of its better accuracy based on the prompts I provided. There’s clearly work needed for Image Playground, but what I’d like to see happen in the future is the option for choosing a style. With Pixel Studio, I kept it at Freeform for all the prompts, which resulted in the more realistic, true-to-life images. Image Playground’s images just look too cartoony by comparison, though that is by design.
Overall, Google comes out on top here.
More from Tom's Guide
