Gemini Intelligence arrives on Samsung foldables with 40-app task automation

Google used Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked stage in London to plant a flag for the future of Android interaction, launching the first wave of Gemini Intelligence 1 on the new Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Fold8, and Flip8. This isn’t just another AI sidebar. Google is pushing for a phone that acts as a persistent agent, not just a reactive tool.

Task automation, first previewed in beta back in February, is getting a serious expansion. Gemini can now orchestrate actions across more than 40 popular apps, moving well beyond simple ride-hailing or takeout orders. The system is designed to handle the kind of “life admin” that eats up your afternoon — booking travel, scoring event tickets, snagging dinner reservations. On the Flip8, you can trigger it directly from the Flex Window, which is a clever play for making AI useful without having to dive into the phone. The real technical hook is Gemini’s new ability to parse complex images as prompts; you can show it a shopping list or an inspiration photo to jumpstart a task. Crucially, Google says you can track the agent’s progress step-by-step, multitask while it works, or even intervene for a manual tweak before handing control back.

Google is also preloading Gemini Notebook (the rebranded NotebookLM) on the new foldables as a native app. This makes the Z Fold8’s expansive canvas a testing ground for multimodal research, letting you drag and drop photos, documents, and voice recordings into a side-by-side workspace. The chat function can then synthesize those sources into slide decks, videos, or even those uncanny AI podcasts. Samsung is sweetening the deal with a six-month trial of Google AI Pro, unlocking premium features like Audio Overviews and Video Overviews.

The wearable push rounds out the news: Gemini is coming to the Galaxy Watch 9 with a raise-to-talk wrist gesture, and Google confirmed two new frame designs for its intelligent eyewear partnership with Samsung, Gentle Monster, and Warby Parker, set to launch this fall. That these glasses can be controlled via a hand gesture on a paired Wear OS watch suggests Google is finally getting serious about ambient computing. The underlying message from Unpacked is clear: Samsung’s hardware is now the primary vehicle for Google’s most ambitious AI experiments, and they’re no longer waiting for a major OS update to ship them.