Samsung essentially ditched Bixby with One UI 7 to make Gemini the default AI assistant on its phones. And one of its advantages Samsung had with Google's AI assistant was that it received new Gemini features ahead of other brands. However, it appears that OnePlus' new phone has now received one Gemini feature that even Google and Samsung phones didn't.

OnePlus launched its new compact high-end phone, the OnePlus 13s, in India yesterday. Similar to Samsung's high-end phones, it has several AI features, such as writing assist, calls and messages translation/transcribing, and deep integration of stock apps with Gemini. It even has a dedicated button to access AI features and has a lockscreen shortcut for direct access to Gemini. This feature is missing on even the latest Pixel and Galaxy phones.

As you can see in the screenshots above, the Gemini is mentioned as ‘Digital assistant from Google' in the lockscreen shortcuts menu.

While you can set the Gemini app as the lockscreen shortcut on Galaxy phones running One UI 7, it requests for your biometrics when you tap that shortcut. In comparison, the Gemini lockscreen shortcut action on OnePlus 13s doesn't require your biometrics unless you request for something that needs your personal data.

Google could bring this feature to its Pixel lineup with the stable Android 16 update. However, it isn't present even the latest beta version of Android 16. Even the latest beta version (including internal beta builds) of One UI 8 lack this Gemini lockscreen shortcut action. Hopefully, Samsung gets to bring it with the stable version of One UI 8 in the future.

The OnePlus 13s features a compact body and a 6.32-inch 120Hz OLED screen with 1,600 nits peak brightness (HBM). Despite its compact size, it comes packed with a 5,850mAh battery that supports up to 80W SuperVOOC fast charging. It features a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, 12GB RAM, and 256GB/512GB storage. It runs Android 15 and will get four major Android OS updates.

It has a 32MP front-facing camer with autofocus. On the rear, it has a 50MP primary camera with OIS and a 50MP telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom. Both rear cameras support up to 4K 60fps video recording, while the front-facing camera tops out at 4K 30fps video recording.

The phone has 5G, GPS, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, IR port, NFC, USB 2.0 Type-C port, stereo speakers, an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance, and an optical under-display fingerprint reader. It is priced at INR 54,999 (~$641), which makes it compete against the Galaxy S24.

The Galaxy S24 has less powerful processor (Exynos 2400) and a much smaller battery (4,000mAh), but features much better cameras, longer software support, a better fingerprint reader, and wireless charging.