Smartphone makers are openly embracing the AI trend. This year we’ve seen a lot of devices having “AI” powers as one of their highlights, and even the chipmakers are working on chipsets that can better process the AI tasks. Samsung started with its Galaxy AI features this year, and it seems that the company will make it even more powerful for future smartphones. With the latest Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, the company brought new features but this is just the beginning. According to TM Roh, the President of Samsng’s Mobile Experience Unit (MX), the hardware of future Galaxy devices “may turn out to be radically different from Samsung’s existing smartphones”.
Samsung Will Embrace AI Tech – Smartphones Can Change Radically In the Future
TM Roh spoke to the Australian Financial Review and said that the “lion’s share” of Samsung MX’s research and development will focus on the so-called AI smartphones. The president didn’t go into details, but the “radically different” comments suggest drastic changes are coming soon, and these changes could result in different smartphones. Roh also mentioned that AI phones would be more “mobile”. That does not necessarily mean smaller. They could have bigger screens, maybe foldable or rollable ones, and more sensors to make them complete mobile computers.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold6 are two good examples of AI powers with the S Pen support. The use of Galaxy AI technology can turn even a rough sketch drawn with the S Pen into a more detailed image. Of course, this is just the surface of what AI tech can perform. Besides images, it can also manipulate and improve audio, text, video, 3D, and more. Interestingly, Samsung has been implementing its AI toolset into the headphones with features like immediate language translation. Hence, we can conclude that accessories are also part of the company’s plans for its AI revolution.
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We have many examples of smartphones featuring AI features nowadays. However, we have yet to see them becoming truly appealing to consumers. While the AI tech is interesting, we are yet to see smartphones that will make consumers throw their money on the screen. Perhaps, the current devices are also not a good indication of what an “AI phone” should be like, or perhaps, they are not what Samsung has in mind for its devices. Samsung is venturing into an unexplored territory, and that requires a massive R&D push.
New Form Factors To Emerge with AI
TM Roh also told the AFR that a “lion’s share” of Samsung mobile phone research and development is now directed at these smartphones. However, it didn’t share what form factors the company was looking at specifically. The form factor, for those unaware, is a hardware design aspect that defines and prescribes the size, shape, and other physical specs of the components. Since the iPhone’s debut, smartphones have favored a slim rectangle form factor. This went from tiny to large in the modern market of smartphones. With the radical changes proposed by AI, we could see devices that look very different from the ubiquitous rectangle.
Roh’s statement comes a few months after Samsung rolled out the Galaxy AI system to several Samsung smartphones in May. The system aims to streamline existing features. It also adds new tools for users and improves the Samsung phone’s overall functionality.
It is worth noting that Samsung’s biggest phone competitor, Apple, announced a partnership with ChatGPT creator firm OpenAI. The company will build AI features for the iPhone. Having this in mind, it’s natural to see Koreans running to implement AI. Google has also been working AI into its smartphones and Android. AI definitively is the next point of focus for smartphones and general tech.
