The OnePlus 13 has only just arrived, but it’s already picked up its first major software update — with a bunch of new enhancements and features coming to the phone. The biggest of those upgrades is support for Google’s on-device Gemini Nano AI.
Typically early software updates are focused on making smaller and subtler improvements to a new phone. That’s also true of the OnePlus 13, with fixes offering improvements to things like the camera, connectivity, system stability and so on. But it’s also coming with a bunch of big features, including Gemini Nano. Alongside the AI boost, users can expect to see improved 4K 60fps recording and the December 2024 security patch.
AI is, of course, the biggest addition — and I’m wondering why OnePlus just didn’t include support on the release model. In fact, OnePlus hasn’t even confirmed that fact, and this news has instead come from Android sleuth Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority. Rahman discovered that the new update added Google’s AICore app to OnePlus 13.
AICore is what powers AI models across the Android ecosystem, and is necessary to actually get them installed in the first place. No AICore means no Gemini, it’s that simple. Rahman notes that after updating AICore in Google Play, the Gemini Nano model began downloading to his OnePlus 13.
Sadly it seems the model is only capable of using Nano for the Magic Compose feature in Google Messages. This isn’t a Pixel phone, which takes a lot better advantage of Gemini Nano’s on-device processing, giving Google’s phones more features as a result. Rahman points out that this limitation also applies to phones like the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Xiaomi 14T Pro, rather than being exclusive to the OnePlus 13.
Magic Compose is currently still an experimental feature that offers suggestions on how to reply to messages — by both utilizing generative AI and recognizing the context of your conversations. For most phones this feature works in the cloud, but with Gemini Nano everything happens on-device. That includes the OnePlus 13.
It’s not the greatest piece of news for prospective OnePlus 13 owners, but it is still a good thing to happen. Gemini Nano support could well expand on non-Pixel devices in the near future, which means more locally-processed AI features. Especially since OnePlus has already said the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset powering the OnePlus 13 will support Gemini Nano’s new multimodal capabilities.
But we’ll have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime check out our full OnePlus 13 review and OnePlus 13R review for a rundown on everything the new phones have to offer.
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