Even today AI is not much incorporated in smartphones though it is the latest craze. At the moment, the primary, and most preferred feature is the ability to eliminate all sorts of objects one does not want to see in the image. To find out which of them does this better I tested Apple’s Clean Up feature on iPhone against Google’s Magic Editor.
Google Magic Editor vs. Apple Clean Up: On-Device Photo Editing Showdown
For instance, after the release of the Google Pixel 6 series at the end of 2021, more users have started employing an object eraser photo editing tool. Some current examples include Samsung, OnePlus, Oppo, And even Canva which offers this functionality. However, Magic Editor is available on any device that has the Google Photos application. Nevertheless, the majority of implementations use cloud-based AI, and uploading pictures to the cloud, of course, causes certain privacy concerns.
Notably, this capability is local in the Google Pixel 9 series (review) and the Apple iPhone 16 series. Google’s Magic Editor and Apple’s Clean Up operate offline, and your pictures do not go to the cloud at all. These devices were particularly used for the most updated comparison in my findings below.
As mentioned earlier, Apple Intelligence has been enhanced in iOS 18.2, but as a reminder, the feature is still in beta. However, for this comparison, I have only used the latest version of Apple Clean Up available in the iOS 18.2 stable build.
Scenario 1: Removing a Fire Extinguisher Behind a Christmas Stall
To begin, I started with something simple: a video from the Christmas market in Mumbai India showing the Christmas ice cream stall. However, having a fire extinguisher hanging in the background is a real bummer. Google’s Magic Eraser seemed to be slightly better when I applied the Magic Editor and Clean Up to eliminate the out-of-focus fire extinguisher.
Magic Editor erased the fire extinguisher convincingly without altering the shadow or destroying the wood grain of the wall. On the other hand, Clean Up experienced difficulties in integrating some segments of the concrete floor into the wooden walling portion.
Scenario 2: Removing the Main Subject From an Image
These object remover tools are specifically for the removal of side or irrelevant objects in a frame, but what do you do when you remove the subject? This demonstration looks at that possibility. For this image, I positioned an owl-like statue on a white sofa with a pink cushion behind it, then changed the position to take out the owl. The currently obtained results of Magic Editor and Apple Clean Up are quite stimulating.
In this case, I think Apple’s Clean Up tool fared better. The removal was smoother and less reliant on Artifacts to clarify, though it preserved some shadows on the left side of the model. At the same time, Magic Editor failed, and the cushion and the place where the owl sat became blurred and arranged chaotically.
Even the Magic Editor gave a better optimization have here in this shot of a boat on a lake. While Apple Clean Up was able to get rid of the boat, Magic Editor not only got rid of it but also painted over the area and even eliminated the shadow on the lake.
Scenario 3: Erasing People in Front of a Church
Even though the iPhone generated a more accurate image, it provided some errors like erasing the stairs that were in front of the church, leaving the man on the left side only, and censoring the lower part of the streetlight on the right side of the image. Like Bimbo, Magic Editor definition also had a problem with the staircase but kept the bottom of the streetlight and blurred out the man on the left side.
Which Object Remover Tool Is Superior?
Reflecting on all scenarios, with Google Magic Editor as a winner. Though, compared to the Clean Up tool being offered in the tools section of this photo editor of Apple, the Magic Editor in Google Photos, though as effective – if not more – and easier to locate, isn’t infallible.
I thought the results from Magic Editor were generally better (and was sometimes surprised by how well it eradicated objects) because it takes into consideration the environment of the object that is to be erased. All the same, and given that Clean Up is a beta tool, its performance is quite impressive. It’s quite fascinating to see how Apple has managed to rapidly achieve a similar level of accuracy and provide on-device results that are at this level.
However, like most other AI tools, object-removing tools are quite persnickety—results were different every time I tried Clean Up or Magic Editor on both gadgets. But the fact is that it is great to have those tools at hand – an indisputable truth for those who never could even dream of having such opportunities several years in one’s past.
