Samsung unveils AI-powered Galaxy Book5 Pro to take on Apple’s MacBook

Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday unveiled its new Galaxy Book5 Pro, packed with various AI functions, to compete with archrival Apple Inc.’s MacBook series.

At its global premiere in Seoul, the South Korean tech giant said it is launching the latest Galaxy laptop series in the Korean market on Jan. 2, reflecting high interest in AI-powered PCs among Korean customers.

“With the launch of this new Book5 Pro, following the AI PC introduced earlier this year, we have completed our lineup to make our notebook computers mainstream products,” said Lim Seong-taek, executive vice president of Samsung’s Korea business.

Lee Min-cheol, vice president of the Samsung MX (Mobile eXperience) Division's Galaxy Eco Business Team, said: "We are striving to integrate AI into smartphones, PCs, tablets, watches and earbuds, to ensure that our AI capabilities keep pace with our competitors, including Apple."

PACKED WITH ADVANCED AI FEATURES

Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro will be available in two sizes, 14-inch and 16-inch, and in two colors – gray and silver.

The laptop is packed with AI-powered features, including Samsung’s Galaxy AI and Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC.

Notably, Copilot+ PC will be rolled out in future updates to add even more AI features to the laptop.

Samsung said it’s in talks with Microsoft to finalize the updates by the end of the first half of next year.

Function updates will include Live Caption, which enables real-time translation and subtitles, and Co-Creator, which generates image outputs using simple commands.

As the first in the Galaxy Book series, Samsung adopted the AI Select feature that lets users search for images or text simply by drawing a circle on the touchscreen.

Unlike the "Circle to Search" feature in Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones, which relies on Google's services, AI Select uses Samsung's proprietary technology.

The laptop also allows users to extract text from images and even interact with QR codes by circling them with a pen or stylus. 

The Photo Remaster function uses the neural processing unit (NPU) to improve old or low-quality photos to make them clearer and sharper, according to Samsung.

CUTTING-EDGE AI PC

Already the dominant player in the local laptop market, Samsung aims to position the Galaxy Book5 Pro as a cutting-edge AI PC, ready to compete with industry leaders, including Apple.

The latest AI-powered laptop has a high-resolution Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, featuring a Vision Booster and an anti-reflection panel. It offers up to 25 hours of battery life.

The laptop runs on the new Intel Core Ultra Processor Series 2 (codenamed Luna Lake), with an NPU that can perform up to 47 trillion operations per second.

Samsung said the new model also supports features such as Quick Share, Multi Control, and Second Screen to allow easy connections and seamless control between devices.

"The product is designed to enable AI functionality through a combination of cloud-based and on-device approaches. AI Select operates on a cloud-based system, while all the other features are on-device,” said Lee.

Write to Eui-Myung Park at uimyung@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.