Google runs Gemma 4 on Pixel 10: chat, vision, and settings changes at 30,000 feet offline
At Google I/O India, the Tensor and Pixel teams showed a light Gemma 4 build running on the phone’s TPU (the chip block made for AI math), with data staying on the device. Developers can apply for the Tensor SDK to compile models for Pixel.
⚑ Vendor content: Google’s developer blog plus a launch-demo recap. Clips are showcase footage, not third-party lab tests.
Plane is offline—can AI still work?
In July 2026, Google and the Pixel team co-hosted a showcase at Google I/O India: AI running on Pixel 10’s own silicon. The chip is Google Tensor; inside it is a TPU built for AI work.
One scene in the post: you’re at 30,000 feet with no network and can still hold a deep chat. They also showed models, demo videos, and tools developers can grab now.
Ask a question, snap a photo, or transcribe audio—and the phone sends it to the cloud. Offline fails. Online still ships voice and photos off-device.
The same jobs try to finish on the phone TPU. Model and compute stay local; data does not leave the device.
What shipped
These capability types show up again and again in the demos:
All four share the phone’s TPU, stay offline where possible, and keep data on the device. Supported devices in the footnote: Pixel 10, 10 Pro, 10 Pro XL, 10 Pro Fold.
How the light Gemma 4 build hits the TPU
The model is Gemma 4 E2B for TPU, already compiled for Pixel TPU—a light build meant to run natively on the phone. Precompiled packs are on the Hugging Face LiteRT community (filenames include Google_Tensor_G5).
If you’re curious about Gemma 4 itself—training, size, and how “thinking” works—there’s a technical-report write-up on this site:
Eight official demos, by job
Google released eight demo clips. Grouped by job:
1. Offline skills: travel, recipes, home
In the demo, the phone plans trips, suggests recipes, and runs home automation offline. The product name is Agent Skills.
2. Control the phone: speak or type system actions
Mobile Actions use Functional Gemma (~270M, fine-tuned for function calling). It runs on the TPU so voice or text can drive Wi‑Fi, maps, and similar features with executable actions.
3. Chat, see, hear—offline
Four more clips cover chat, snap-and-ask, on-device transcription, and TPU-side chat:
4. Industry samples: retail floor and auto shop
Two more demos sit in workplaces—still offline:
How developers get a model onto Pixel
The toolkit is Tensor SDK (Beta—apply first). The product page shows three steps:
- Apply for Tensor SDK Beta: form on the Tensor SDK page. For commercial redistribution, read the license and distribution terms.
- Use stock models or compile your own: Model Garden; small LMs in the Hugging Face Google Tensor collection.
- Copy the sample app: GitHub sample_app_tpu and the Tensor SDK Codelab.
- Try Gallery App first: Play Store LiteRT AI Edge Gallery. Device scope is the Pixel 10 family.