“AI is essential for smartphones, but Samsung is marketing it.”

Samsung launched the Galaxy S24 on Wednesday, its latest masterpiece with 'Galaxy AI'. New phones have some smart functions, some more innovative than others. But the “new era of mobile AI” that Samsung talks about is not coming. However, mobile AI is the holy grail for manufacturers and users alike.

Samsung Galaxy S24 has been launched, the most powerful new smartphone from the world's largest smartphone manufacturer. Long before the launch, Samsung has been teasing the new artificial intelligence (AI) features on social media, with comments like: “Galaxy AI is coming'. The hype around AI and ChatGPT has been around since 2023. The Galaxy S24 devices had to demonstrate the value of AI on mobile platforms.

If ChatGPT is a reference, Galaxy AI sounds like a marketing story. Interestingly, Samsung comes with functions that often rely on existing technology, especially that of Google. This is the technology giant that develops the Android operating system and sells Pixel smartphones.

Evolution, not revolution

Admittedly, some of the software aspects of the S24 spark the imagination. Samsung described calling someone who speaks a different language and reading translations while calling as breaking language barriers at the launch event. But it's actually a live Google Translate app, which has been on Google smartphones for more than two years.

Chat help It helps predict entire sentences by an algorithm while typing a message, but what Samsung doesn't mention is that this is comparable Smart reply It's been around in the Gmail app for much longer. Research circle It allows you to circle any part of the screen and get relevant search results. If you see a handbag in a magazine you read digitally, you will see the shopping results, among other things. This is basically a new, more convenient package for Google Lens, which has been around since 2017.

Production profits

Is the AI ​​smartphone just a gimmick? Good sales pitch from manufacturers, without making much difference? This remains the case to this day, but a true AI breakthrough on mobile is definitely on its way. Technical sites such as the edge It was speculated before the Galaxy S24 launch that the new phones would become much more productive. For example, would you like to compose an email to schedule an appointment at your bank? Just like in ChatGPT, you will be presented with a script template that will save you a lot of time.

But AI on smartphones could be more than just a copy of OpenAI technology. It can take full control of applications to save users time. Instead of scrolling through the NMBS app's menus hoping to calculate a route between Leuven and Brussels-South, AI saves you the work by consulting the app behind the scenes and showing the routes in a handy overview to present. Think about such possibilities in almost all your applications and in complex applications, and we are talking about huge productivity gains.

Google is cool

Such automation based on contextual processing of information is not far from what we think. But we can expect this innovation from Apple or Google, the two companies that develop the most important software for smartphones, iOS and Android respectively.

It is known that Google wants to update its old voice assistant, Google Assistant, with the technology behind Bard. This is the alternative to ChatGPT. Once this update is available, it will be the first step towards an “AI smartphone” worthy of the name.

Siri is smarter

But what about Apple? The iPhone maker is less vocal in its communications about AI than other major companies like Microsoft, Google, and Meta. This does not mean that it is not working to enhance the intelligence of its assistant, Siri. As tech entrepreneur and author Peter Hensen pointed out in a recent interview with Trends.

“Apple is the company that has made the most AI-related acquisitions in recent months. Although it may now be somewhat quiet about competitors to ChatGPT or Google Bard, Apple may come with a surprise. Google is more assertive about its concepts “And its demos, but they often have a less exciting following than expected. Apple introduces a new product or service in one fell swoop. Siri, which now seems a bit antiquated, could suddenly become smarter. This seems like a logical move.”

Samsung's Achilles' heel

Why is it difficult for other smartphone brands, such as Samsung, to launch a radical AI application? Because Samsung primarily develops a software layer on top of Android. It therefore relies in part on capabilities already built into the operating system. This poses a major obstacle to developing a radically new way of operating smartphones. This explains why the company is working closely with Google, trying to reduce this disadvantage compared to its biggest competitor, Apple.

Apple and Google face the biggest challenge since the discovery of artificial intelligence. While iOS and Android have become increasingly similar over the years, one operating system can outperform the other. The question, of course, is: for how long?