At its global Unpacked event in San Jose on January 17, Samsung took the wraps off its new Galaxy AI project. This suit of both on-device and cloud-based AI features is making its debut on the new Galaxy S24 series smartphones but the company plans to bring Galaxy AI to existing devices as well through a software update in the near future.
Galaxy AI coming to more Samsung devices
Samsung said its Galaxy AI will expand to “select Galaxy devices” in the first half of 2024. The Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus, Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 5, and Galaxy Z Flip 5 will be the usual suspects but the company also plans to jumpstart the relatively entry-level Galaxy S23 FE with AI smarts. The Galaxy Tab S9 tablets are also eligible for the upgrade.
TM Roh, president and head of MX Business at Samsung Electronics, in an interview with the Korea Herald said, the company plans to roll out the features this year to about “100 million Galaxy smartphones for the global expansion of mobile AI”.
It remains to be seen if Samsung will bring the entire lot, or follow a more selective approach depending on the model.
Galaxy AI to remain free — for now
On the question of paid AI, Roh said the company is not considering that option yet but as AI features start to get more advanced and require higher investment, the idea could be discussed. Samsung’s product pages for its Galaxy S24 series devices mention an “end of 2025” window beyond which the company may start charging users for at least some of its Galaxy AI services.
Follow FE Tech Bytes on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook.
