Google’s Pixel 10 phones have set the stage for what we need from the iPhone 17.
The release of the Google Pixel 10 phones with deeply integrated AI features that offer impressive new capabilities has revealed the biggest gaps the iPhone 17 needs to fill.
Many of the smartest AI services in the world are already on the iPhone as apps, and so there’s the possibility that Apple could partner with them for deeper integrations.
The new AI camera features in the Pixel 10 could be the biggest differentiator between it and the iPhone 17.
While the iPhone has virtually all of the smartest AI apps available from the latest AI trailblazers, it lacks the kind of deep integration of AI features that are only available at the intersection of the operating system and the latest hardware. That’s what we’ve seen with the rollout of Google’s Pixel 10 lineup.
Here are seven features that would make a huge impact if they were seamlessly embedded at the system level in the iPhone 17.1. ChatGPT’s Voice Mode
But Voice Mode — which is being renamed ChatGPT Voice and is soon rolling out to free users — is still limited in the commands it can carry out on your iPhone. An Apple version of this feature or a partnership with OpenAI could allow much deeper integration across calendar, email, text messages, notes, settings, and other operating system tasks (with Apple privacy protections in place). Similarly, Google already has Gemini Live and Microsoft offers Copilot Voice, so Apple needs to move more deliberately to help the iPhone keep up.2. Pixel 10’s Pro Res Zoom
I’ve written about the fact that I love zoom photography and how it’s the one area where phone cameras still fall down and I have to regularly turn to my Sony mirrorless camera and 70-200mm zoom lens. However, Google has recently taken a big step to fill the gap in zoom photography in the Pixel 10 Pro. With its new Super Res Zoom feature, the Pixel 10 Pro will fill in missing data and automatically process a digital zoom image up to 100x to make it more usable.
This brings up a number of questions about what makes a photo, and I still need to try it out on the Pixel 10 Pro to report back on how well it works, but this feels like a worthy use of computational photography. And the only smartphone maker that’s going to compete with Google on computational photography is Apple.3. Google’s Magic Cue
Last year at WWDC 2024, Apple made a big deal about its Personal Intelligence feature that could understand your questions and requests because it had information about you from your calendar, mail, text messages, and other data stored privately in the Apple ecosystem. In the WWDC keynote, Apple used examples like „Pull up the files Joz shared with me last week“ and a real-time alert that a meeting you’re about to reschedule could conflict with giving your kid a ride to a regular activity.
Of course, Apple has never shipped this feature — but now Google has. In the Pixel 10, Google launched Magic Cue, which can save you from having to jump between apps by knowing enough about you to help cue you with info. One example it provided was a text message where someone asked you what time dinner reservations were, and Magic Cue presumably used info from a Gmail confirmation message to surface the info right in the messaging app, and the user simply had to tap it to send a response.
Google says this kind of action can now happen locally on the device because of the Tensor G5 chip in the Pixel 10. Still, I think more people would trust Apple with their privacy on a feature like this because Apple doesn’t make money off of using your data in opportunistic ways. 4. Deep Research from Anthropic
One of the biggest ways generative AI saves me time is by using it as a research assistant. Several of the AI apps now offer a Deep Research feature where you can ask an important question about a more complex topic and give the AI extra time (usually 5-30 minutes) to scour available sources and come back with an answer that includes clearly marked links to where the info came from.5. Best Take from Google Photos
Google first launched its Best Take feature on the Pixel 8 in 2023 and recently gave it another big upgrade on the Pixel 10. The feature came about from a collaboration by the Google Pixel, Google Photos, and Google Research teams working together to solve the „group shot dilemma.“
It uses multiple photos taken back-to-back of a group of people where not everyone has their eyes open, is looking at the camera, or is making an awkward expression. It then combines everyone’s best take into a more usable photo. The new „Auto Best Take“ on the Pixel 10 does this in the background and produces the Best Take photo for you.6. Much broader language support
One of the most advanced capabilities of large language models is translating between different languages, and we’ve seen not only smart phones take advantage of this but also smart glasses as well — including Meta Ray-Bans, Solos AirGo 3, Even Realities G1, and The Frame from Brilliant Labs. Some of these smart glasses, along with several phone apps, can now translate into dozens of languages (Google Translate supports over 100 languages).
Apple still lags behind by only supporting 20 languages in Apple Translate. By tapping into the power of LLMs, Apple should boost the number of supported languages considerably and integrate them into Siri and other AI features, such as Live Translation in phone calls and text messages, and Visual Intelligence. 7. Conversational photo editing from Google
Perhaps the biggest surprise feature in the new Pixel 10 phone is its new Conversional Editing feature in Google Photos. This allows you to describe the changes you’d like to make to a photo, and then the AI automatically goes in and does it. For example, you could have it move the subject in a scene, remove glare or reflections, re-center an object, replace the background, add clouds to a blue sky, increase or decrease background blur, and more.
Of course, altering photos can be sensitive. On LinkedIn, Google’s product lead for computational photography noted, „We have tuned our models to be hypersensitive to small details in the photo so that it reflects the context you want to keep with the changes you want to make.“
I suspect this is going to be a very popular feature, since it is super easy to access and doesn’t involve the advanced technical skills that you would have previously needed to do these kinds of photo edits. Final word
Apple has a lot of work to do to catch up with the features that the leading AI companies are bringing to their iPhone apps — let alone the deep AI integration that Google is now bringing to key features on its Pixel phones.
While the delay in rolling out Apple Intelligence features may not have seemed to hurt the iPhone during the past year, Apple will need to close the gap to avoid the iPhone 17 feeling like a device that’s a step behind. As of right now, Google can make a pretty strong case that it offers the smartest phone money can buy.

New week, new Wordle win.
Let’s make sure your next week of puzzle gaming gets off to a fantastic start. Go all green on the first row with a cheeky little peek at the answer to today’s Wordle if you like, we don’t mind. Or see how you get on and come back to us when you’re ready, confident our hints and clues for the September 8 (1542) game will quickly help you out if you need them to. Your choice, always.A clue for today’s Wordle
Stuck on today’s Wordle? Here’s a clue that pertains to the meaning of the word.
If you’re still just as stuck after our clue, scroll down for further hints.Hints for the September 8 (#1542) Wordle
Our Wordle hints will start vague so as to just give you a bit of a nudge in the right direction at first.
As you scroll down, they’ll offer more and more help towards figuring out today’s word without fully giving it away.Are there any repeated letters in today’s Wordle?
Make sure you use a brand new letter in every spot.How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?
There’s only one vowel hiding in today’s answer.What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
Begin with a „C“ and you’ll be fine.
Just a little bit further and then you’re all won for the day.The September 8 (#1542) Wordle answer is…
This is it. No turning back now!
The solution to today’s Wordle puzzle is.The meaning behind today’s Wordle answer
A chirp is any sort of short, high pitched sound. Like the kind you’d hear a small bird or insect make. ????Previous Wordle answers
Past Wordle answers can give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh. They are also a good way to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer is unlikely to be repeated.
Here are the last 10 Wordle answers:
August 29: GRAFT
August 30: ELATE
August 31: PETAL
September 1: LEAST
September 2: MIGHT
September 3: FETCH
September 4: BLEND
September 5: DRIFT
September 6: BULGE
September 7: TENORLearn more about Wordle How to play Wordle
Wordle’s a daily guessing game, where the goal is to correctly uncover today’s five letter word in six goes or less. An incorrect letter shows up as a grey box. A correct letter in the wrong space turns up yellow. And the correct letter in the right place shows up as green. There’s no time limit to worry about, and don’t forget that some letters might be used more than once.What’s the best Wordle starting word?
Generally you want to pick something with a good mix of common consonants and vowels in it as your Wordle opener, as this is most likely to return some early green and yellow letters. Words like SLATE, CHIME, and REACT all work, but feel free to find your own favourite.Is Wordle getting harder?
Wordle is not getting harder!
There will always be the occasional day where the answer is the name of a body part, has a sneaky double vowel, or a word obscure enough to send everyone rushing off to a dictionary. But the daily answers, edited by Tracy Bennett, are still a good mix of common terms and tougher challenges.
Remember that if you’re craving more of a challenge, you can enable Hard Mode under the ⚙️ options menu. This option doesn’t make the words themselves harder, but it requires that „any revealed hints must be used in subsequent guesses.“How did Wordle begin?
Wordle is the creation of Josh Wardle, and began life as a small personal project before its public release in 2021. From there it’s gone on to become a global phenomenon, attracting a dedicated daily audience, billions of plays, a whole host of competitors, and even a seven-figure sale to the New York Times where it’s become a mainstay of daily games alongside the crosswords and Connections.

The heart wants what it wants.
Just as prior wishlist chart-toppers The Day Before (lol), Manor Lords, and (briefly) Stray gave way to Hollow Knight: Silksong’s long reign, so too has Team Cherry’s platformer passed the torch to a new contender. Subnautica 2 is now the most wishlisted game on Steam, followed by Valve’s MOBA-shooter Deadlock. Slots three through five are taken up by Battlefield 6, Borderlands 4, and Light No Fire.
Steam’s publicly available data isn’t the end-all, be-all of the hobby⁠—not the least because it doesn’t account for other storefronts or console players⁠—but it is useful for divining trends and getting a snapshot of the current gaming scene.
It’s kind of weird that the two most desired PC games of the moment are such basket cases, right? They boast pre-release anti-hype cycles to give the long Silksong silence a run for its money, yet we apparently can’t get enough of them.
Let’s start with Deadlock: Given the fact that it’s an honest-to-god new Valve game, it’s shocking it hasn’t just clinched number one by default. But it’s a kookster: The second most wishlisted game on Steam is already being played for free by tens of thousands of people⁠—about 45k at the time of writing, according to SteamDB.
The game is not out, but we’re already at a point where lapsed players can have discussions about whether or not to come back to it. Before Deadlock’s playtest broke containment, it became the gaming story of the moment despite Valve pretending it didn’t even exist.
At the beginning of Summer 2024 (this thing’s been around for over a year!), screenshots, gameplay footage, and even datamined information was leaking out of the then-secret playtest like a sieve. Valve finally „announced“ the game⁠—really just acknowledged it⁠—last August, and the vast proliferation of invites to the invite-only game has effectively soft-launched it.
That might be the most confounding fact of all: Valve invented the early access model, but won’t brand its own, effectively early access game as such. If I’m being honest, I kind of love the chaos of it all, even as I wish the studio would finally tackle a singleplayer game again.Subnautica subpoena
The number one wishlisted Subnautica 2 has a more familiar, but also troubling story: A falling out and legal clash between senior creative and managerial staff behind the game, one that doesn’t seem likely to resolve in time for Subnautica 2’s projected 2026 early access release.
Studio Unknown Worlds was acquired by publisher Krafton in 2021, and a sequel to the developer’s beloved underwater survival sim, Subnautica, was slated to launch in early access this year. In July, Krafton replaced the senior leadership of the studio: CEO Ted Gill, designer Charlie Cleveland, and co-founder Max McGuire.
The ousted developers say they were terminated unfairly in order to duck paying them a $250 million bonus, and that the game could have still launched in early access this year. Krafton claims the trio dropped the ball, that Subnautica 2 was far behind its agreed-upon early access launch milestones, and that going through with the planned release would have been disastrous.
More than anything, I’m just struck by the anti-charisma of these games and some of their immediate predecessors at the top of the list. A messy lawsuit for Subnautica and a messy not-launch for Deadlock. Silksong gave fans nothing but stony silence for years, and The Day Before seems to have gotten there on accident, much to the detriment of developer Amazing Seasun.
Manor Lords and Stray, while having far less abnormal pre-launches, are still far from traditional blockbusters in character: A hardcore city builder and a moody, meditative indie platformer.
Classico triple-A juggernauts like Borderlands 4 and Battlefield 6 can still make it up there, but that kind of pedigree and budgetary heft isn’t the guarantee of success and popularity it used to be. It’s of a piece with so many of the biggest games in recent years being surprises⁠—Baldur’s Gate 3, Balatro, Helldivers 2, REPO, Palworld⁠—and so many old guard publishers like EA and Ubisoft falling on hard times.
Aside from just making a good game and hoping it catches on, nobody seems to have cracked the code for getting people excited about a new release these days. Most devs can’t just pull a Silksong and say absolutely nothing while a memetic legend spontaneously develops around their project.