San Jose, California –
Smartphones could get even smarter this year as the next wave of artificial intelligence permeates the devices that accompany us everywhere we go.
Apple and its iPhone archrival, Samsung, gave a glimpse of how smartphones are evolving at the unveiling of its next-generation flagship Galaxy models on Wednesday.
The sales pitch for the Galaxy S24 lineup revolves around a series of new AI-powered features.
“We are reshaping the technology landscape and opening a new chapter without barriers,” TM Roh, president of Samsung’s mobile experience division, told the crowd gathered at an arena in San Jose, Calif., where a hockey game would normally be held. , I vowed to unleash everyone’s potential. games and concerts.
The Galaxy S24 lineup packs in some of Samsung’s own AI efforts, as well as some of the latest advancements from Google.
The technological improvements will also increase the price of Samsung’s top-of-the-line phone, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which will now cost $1,300, a $100, or 8%, price increase over last year’s comparable model. . This increase mirrors what Apple did with its most premium model, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which launched in September.
Samsung is keeping prices unchanged for the Galaxy S24 Plus, which retails for USD 1,000, and the basic Galaxy S24, which starts at USD 800.
All new Galaxy phones scheduled to hit shelves on January 31st will come with far more AI than before, including the ability to provide live translation in 13 languages and 17 dialects during calls. is. The Galaxy S24 lineup will also introduce Google’s Circle To Search, which lets you use a digital stylus or your finger to circle snippets of text, photos and videos, and search for the highlighted item. You can get results instantly.
With new Galaxy smartphones, you can now quickly and easily control the appearance and placement of specific parts of photos taken with your device’s camera. This is a feature that could help people refine their photos, while also making it easier to create misleading images.
Last fall, Google began working to bring more AI to its latest Pixel smartphones, including the ability to change the appearance of photos. The company accelerated this effort late last year with the initial rollout of its next technology, Project Gemini. Take a leap. Google is also bringing the Circle To Search tool to its latest smartphones, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, and plans to extend the tool to other devices running Android software later this year.
In addition to introducing Circle To Search, Google is also using AI to allow users of its mobile apps for iPhone and Android to point the camera at an object and see an overview of what the lens is capturing. . Google believes its Circle To Search and Lens options will make search results more useful, but executives acknowledge that both can be prone to inaccuracies.
Samsung, like nearly every other phone manufacturer other than Apple, relies on Google’s Android operating system, so the two companies’ interests are aligned, even though they compete to sell mobile devices.
Apple is expected to include more AI in its next-generation iPhones in September, but Samsung now has a head start on making the technology more ubiquitous, Forrester Research analysts say. Thomas Hasson said. That’s a competitive advantage Samsung, which last year ceded its longtime title as the world’s biggest smartphone seller to Apple, can leverage, according to market research firm International Data Corp.
“Samsung’s marketing challenge is really about making technology transparent and inspiring consumers with magical, invisible experiences,” Hasson said.
The increasing use of AI in smartphones comes after Microsoft-backed startup OpenAI brought the technology to the mainstream last year with its ChatGPT bot that can quickly create stories, notes, videos, and drawings on demand. This is after pushing it up.
As AI becomes a more integral part of smartphones, the technology is likely to have far-reaching impacts on productivity, creativity and privacy, predicted Todd Rohr, KPMG’s US technology consulting leader.
“Smartphones actually have intelligence, but smartphones have never been that smart,” Lohr said. “Eventually, there may be a use case where you have your smartphone listening to you all day long and providing you with an overview of your day at the end of the day. Listening to it can pose challenges to the social structure. , Whose data is it?”
Although AI hasn’t advanced that far yet, Samsung is already trying to address privacy concerns that could be raised by the amount of new technology being rolled out in the Galaxy S24 lineup. Samsung executives emphasized that while some applications will need to connect to data centers in the virtual cloud, AI capabilities can remain on the device.
The Korean company also promises users that their activities on the device will be protected by “Samsung Knox” security.
Michael Kokotajiro, a telecommunications digital transformation partner at KPMG, believes Samsung and other smartphone makers are trying to give people “an AI assistant in their pocket.” He expects the concept will be more easily adopted by younger generations who have grown up. The era of mobile computing.
“Millennials and Gen Z are definitely going to be looking for these AI capabilities because they are less concerned about privacy and security. But some of the older generations are more concerned about it. Some of you may have, or how to utilize all of that,” Cocotajiro said.
