I put the iPhone 16, iOS 18, "Clean Up" feature head-to-head with Samsung's Galaxy S24, One UI 7, "Magic Eraser"—and the results were pretty interesting!
Apple's Clean Up is the new kid on the block, debuting with iOS 18 on September 16, 2024. Right now, it's only available on the iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, and all iPhone 16 models. Meanwhile, Samsung’s Magic Eraser has been around since 2021, launching with the Galaxy S21 series and working on any Samsung phone running One UI 7 (even older models like the S20).
Both tools remove unwanted objects from photos, but they work a bit differently. iPhone’s Clean Up acts like a digital "magic eraser," seamlessly blending the deleted area with the surrounding patterns. Samsung’s Magic Eraser, on the other hand, uses AI to analyze the scene and generate realistic replacements for the removed content.
So, which one does it better? That depends on how much magic you're looking for!
The Clean Up tool is built right into the iPhone’s Photos app, making it super easy to access. Just open a photo, tap Edit, and look for the eraser icon in the bottom right corner—that’s Clean Up. From there, simply use your finger to select and remove unwanted objects. It’s quick, seamless, and perfect for polishing up your photos with just a few taps!
I wanted to remove both the people and their reflections from my photo. Using the Clean Up tool, my finger acted like a pen, allowing me to highlight the areas I wanted to erase. Once selected, the system used AI to seamlessly blend the deleted areas with the surrounding background, making the edits look natural and polished.
Thoughts on the iPhone's Clean Up Tool
Considering this is a brand-new feature for iPhone, I was pleasantly surprised! It erased the people behind me pretty seamlessly—I could barely tell they were ever there. However, for larger areas, like the left side where someone in a white dress stood, the results were less polished, with noticeable distortion. Interestingly, a similarly sized black area on the right blended much better. Overall, iPhone’s Clean Up tool works great for smaller edits but still needs improvement for larger removals.
Exploring Samsung’s Magic Eraser
Now, let's take a look at the Samsung Magic Eraser tool. To access it, open the Photos app and select your image. Then, tap the sparkle icon in the center of the bottom toolbar to bring up the Magic Eraser too
Use your finger or an S Pen to select the areas you want to remove. I found Samsung’s UI much more user-friendly since it lets you select multiple areas for deletion all at once. You can either tap or draw over the areas you want to erase. The tap feature is especially convenient, as AI automatically detects and selects objects for faster editing. For any missed spots, I could manually refine the selection with the pen tool. Once everything was selected, I simply long-pressed the eraser icon or clicked the “Generate” button to process the edits.
Thoughts on Samsung’s Magic Eraser
Going into this, I had high expectations for Samsung’s Magic Eraser, given its reputation and years of refinement. Interestingly, my results were the opposite of what I experienced with the iPhone’s Clean Up tool. Samsung’s Magic Eraser excelled at handling larger deletions, seamlessly removing the person in the white dress on the left and the dark silhouette on the right. The AI did an incredible job blending those areas—I couldn’t even tell anything was originally there!
That said, while the tool successfully removed people in the background, it left behind some faint black smudges, making it clear that something was erased. With a bit more fine-tuning, I probably could have gone back and cleaned up those spots. Still, this test really showed me how powerful Samsung’s AI-powered photo editing has become with One UI 7.
The Verdict: Samsung Magic Eraser Takes the Win!
In this showdown, Samsung’s Magic Eraser comes out on top, thanks to its powerful AI capabilities that seamlessly fill in large deleted areas. The iPhone’s Clean Up tool, while decent, doesn’t offer much beyond what Adobe Photoshop’s patch tool already does. That said, this is Apple’s first iteration of the feature, so there’s plenty of room for improvement. Not bad for a first attempt—but for now, Samsung holds the crown in AI-powered photo editing.
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