Editing photos doesn’t take years of Photoshop experience anymore to master, as AI-assisted tools in today’s best phones make a breeze for anyone. Like really, you could spend a minute using these photo AI-editing tools and the results will make you look like a pro — it’s that easy!
For the last year, we’ve seen a barrage of phone makers coming up with different tools and features to make the process seamless and simple. While Google had a head start with Magic Eraser and Magic Editor, it wasn’t long before Samsung and Apple came out with their interpretations.
While I’ve found Google’s AI-assisted tools to be some of the best I’ve tested, like how I’ve found out that Pixel Studio is superior over Apple’s Image Playground for image generation, I want to test how well all three phone makers handle the task of erasing subjects from the scene. Whether it’s because of something getting in the way of the shot, or that I simply want a less distracting background, these AI-assisted erasing tools are here to save the day.
Below, I’ve taken photos I’ve captured previously on a phone and put it through each respective AI-assisted photo editing tool to see which does it best — which consists of Apple’s Photo Clean Up, Pixel’s Magic Editor, and Samsung’s Generative Edit.
Car In Parking Lot
I take a ton of car photos for my reviews, but there are still times when I can’t have a completely empty parking lot to myself. Case in point, the shot of the Rivian R1S above, which is cluttered up by the stop signs and an idle car in the background.
I will say that all three phone makers did an excellent job of identifying those distractions, but Google and Samsung do it better because Apple cuts off one of the trees to the left, making it look like it’s hanging from a slim branch. Between Google and Samsung, I much prefer Google’s result because the area to the left it erases isn’t as fuzzy compared to Samsung.
Winner: Google
Pointing Panos Panay
When I was at the Amazon Alex Plus event back in February, I snapped this shot of Panos Panay with the telephoto zoom camera on my phone, but it couldn’t keep out the people nearby directly in front of him. Clearly Apple’s Photo Clean Up has trouble with this shot for some reason. Not only couldn’t it identify the distracting elements in the shot, but it proceeded to erase parts of Panos in the process — it just couldn’t make a proper generation for those areas.
Meanwhile, Samsung and Google clearly look at the entire picture to recreate those parts of Panos. When I zoom into his right arm, they both manage to include the subtle folds of his jacket — while adding enough length to the bottom of it. Between the two, I prefer the Samsung recreation because Panos' jacket and shirt are unrealistically flush at the bottom.
Winner: Samsung
Relaxing by the beach
This one cracks me up because yes, I’m asking AI a whole lot with this request. As much as I loved using the EcoFlow PowerHat to charge my phone while on the beach, I was curious to see how AI could handle this complicated shot of removing it — for something else.
I will say that Samsung’s the easiest to tell exactly what I want to select, plus it does the best at replacing the hat with an interesting hair style. Google comes in second with this one, but I found it slightly more tedious because it couldn’t identify the edges of the hat as well, which required me to manually add selections. Although, the hairstyle isn’t as convincing. As for Apple? Well, let’s say it was a mess.
Winner: Samsung
Nighttime tree
All three manage to remove the tree that’s right in the middle of the shot. However, Apple’s Photo Clean Up was another tedious process that required multiple selections before it was completely removed from the shot. You can see how some of the smudgy remains of the tree still linger around.
Google and Samsung are again the better choices for this, but Galaxy AI’s ability to identify the tree with one selection isn’t just impressive — it puts to shame Apple and Google. I’m surprised about this because Magic Editor still had trouble identifying parts of the tree when I selected it. For this reason, I’m giving it to Samsung.
Winner: Samsung
Colorful sign in the way
For this final test, I tried removing the colorful sign in the middle of the shot. It’s a complicated one, just like the previous tree shot, just because it requires AI to generate the proper elements with the building in the background. Again, Apple’s Photo Clean Up proves to be the most frustrating because it couldn’t identify the sign when I circled it — so I had to constantly swipe small areas before it started to work. Unfortunately, it’s a smudgy mess filled with inconsistent generations.
In contrast, Google and Samsung manage to recreate those missing elements to make for a realistic shot. Although, they slightly have different results with Google applying an over-sharpening effect — whereas Samsung softens them. Despite this, I still prefer Samsung.
Winner: Samsung
Bottom Line
Samsung clearly has the best AI-assisted tool for erasing unwanted subjects. Not only does it intelligently know what I’m trying to select, but it fills the gap with realism. Google’s Magic Eraser does just as good at using generative AI to erase stuff, but it’s not as intuitive or smart as Galaxy AI when it comes to identifying what I want to remove. As for Apple? Well, let’s say there’s a lot of work needed to get it up to par.
Even though Samsung convinces me it’s the go-to for photo removal, I would still give Google the overall edge because of the amount of AI photo editing tools it offers. Not only does it have the Reimagine feature that lets me use a text box to change certain parts of a photo, but it even has the ability to extend a scene to make it wider — plus other tools such as autoframing, replacing the sky, and more.
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