Samsung will bring its artificial intelligence to more than 100 million phones this year

"Samsung Galaxy has inaugurated the era of phones with artificial intelligence. The Galaxy S24 are just the beginning." These words were the most repeated by TM Roh, general director of MX Business at Samsung Electronics, during a talk with a group of European journalists attended by EXPANSIÓN. The manager did not hesitate to constantly repeat that we are facing a new beginning, a turning point in the mobile industry marked by the emergence of artificial intelligence in smartphones and in which Samsung has laid one of the first stones.

The truth is that with the presentation of the new Samsung Galaxy S24 we saw for the first time how AI completely took over a presentation in which the hardware took a second, or third, place. And everything indicates that this is going to be the general trend for the remainder of the year, and even the decade.

"As a mobile industry leader with more than one million customers, Samsung will set the global standards for mobile AI. We will do so based on years of experience and data analysis, innovative technology to optimize artificial intelligence in mobile, and open collaboration within the industry," said TM Roh. The result is that we are facing the most relevant technology of the moment and that will mark the mobile industry in the next ten years, according to the manager.

For now, this artificial intelligence that Samsung has focused a lot on translation and interpretation and also on the photographic section, will be present in the Galaxy S24 range, made up of three phones that have the necessary chip to execute many of the functions it requires. artificial intelligence. But by 2024, Samsung's ambition is to "bring mobile artificial intelligence to approximately one hundred million devices around the world to contribute to the global proliferation of this technology in smartphones," he noted.

To do this, the company will not only incorporate artificial intelligence into its launches, but terminals such as the Galaxy S23 or the folding ones presented last year will be able to enjoy the artificial intelligence functions announced by the Korean company. And what about the cheaper models? Technically, at the moment it is impossible.

Samsung has opted for a hybrid AI approach, meaning it supports AI both on the device and in the cloud. In order to execute some functions on the device, it is necessary to have very powerful processors and specific processing cores for this technology, which makes it impossible for current mid-range or low-range terminals, with less powerful processors, to support artificial intelligence. Of course, as new launches are made with NPUs capable of supporting the requirements of artificial intelligence, this technology will begin to spread to cheaper terminals.

"For Galaxy AI or any mobile AI to run smoothly, there needs to be very strong hardware support. Additionally, it requires running complex algorithms, which means to enable AI features on a mobile device we need the best mobile device possible, with the best hardware and software. For example, for artificial intelligence functions related to photos and videos, they start with the performance of the camera and will then be perfected by algorithms. This means that the hardware and The functions of artificial intelligence are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they need and complement each other," the manager explained.

At the moment, these artificial intelligence tools in Samsung phones are perfectly integrated into the new mobile phones under an icon that makes it easy for the user to recognize that they are using artificial intelligence, a set of three stars. There is no need to download any application, the artificial intelligence already lives in the terminal from the first moment for free. Will it continue to be like this?

"Artificial intelligence comes with a lot of costs. For cloud-based functions, there is obviously the cost of using the cloud. And for functions executed on the device, there is a lot of cost in developing and training the intelligence models At the end of the day, mobile AI technologies will continue to develop and as they do, they will incur more expenses and resources. But to promote and advance artificial intelligence, we have to promote some free features. Of course, the technology "will advance and costs will rise and there will also be some consumers who will want to use high-performance AI tools even if they have to pay for it. That decision will have to be made going forward taking into account the resources or investments that are needed," said TM Roh.

Another leg of Samsung's strategy is the alliance with strategic partners in the sector. First of all, the Korean company has teamed up with Google for the launch of its S24 range, providing its teams with artificial intelligence functions typical of the Mountain View giant, especially in Internet searches.

"Galaxy AI is an open collaboration. And we have participated in various discussions with various partners regarding artificial intelligence. On the one hand, we have found that several Google solutions are the most suitable for Galaxy technology. Therefore, we have partnered However, we have continued to work with other partners to find the best solutions for each function," he said. "We will continue to strengthen and improve the Samsung engine while at the same time continue to work with partners to offer the best features to our global and European consumers."