Samsung dubs upcoming Galaxy S24 AI phone as on-device AI race rages on

Employees at Samsung Electronics Co.'s Mobile eXperience (MX) division recently developed a habit of referring to the upcoming Galaxy series of smartphones “AI phones,” or artificial intelligence phones.

The phenomenon comes after TM Roh, president and head of the South Korean tech giant’s MX division, said in a casual meeting with reporters that he preferred to call Samsung’s much-anticipated Galaxy S24 smartphone an AI phone.

Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker by volume, will premiere the next-generation flagship model at a Galaxy Unpacked event in Silicon Valley on Jan. 17.

The company is pinning high hopes on the new model said to be equipped with on-device AI, a technology that’s fast catching on in the tech world around the globe.

"With the release of the Galaxy S24, we intend to shake up the global mobile market dominated by Apple and Google,” said a senior Samsung executive.

ON-DEVICE AI: TALK OF TOWN AT CES 2024

In the tech arena, the term “on-device AI” has become a buzzword and is widely expected to be the talk of the town at CES 2024, the world’s largest tech exhibition, set to open on Jan. 9 in Los Angeles.

Analysts say this technology, which enables customized and personalized AI functions on smart gadgets such as smartphones, laptops and even in autonomous driving cars without internet connectivity, will be the next “game-changer” in the information technology sector.

On-device AI is widely expected to be commercialized starting this year.

As on-device AI emerges as a mega-trend across industries, chipmakers are upping the ante in the race to produce AI-enabled memory chips while Big Tech firms such as Apple and Google as well as smartphone makers, including China’s Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, are racing to unveil new products with such functions.

When applied to smartphones, on-device AI, for example, learns the user’s search habits and automatically translates frequently searched-for foreign words into their mother tongue. With no need for internet connectivity, analysts said the information processing speed is faster and more secure than on conventional generative AI tools such as ChatGPT.

According to market researcher IDC, the global on-device AI market is expected to explode from this year to reach $150 billion by 2027.

NEW AI FEATURES ON GALAXY S24

Samsung hopes the Galaxy S2 will take on its archrival Apple’s new iPhone series in terms of quantity and profitability.

Samsung controls the global smartphone market with a 20% share in terms of shipments, followed by Apple’s 16%. But by the measure of sales revenue, Apple leads the market with a 43% share, followed by Samsung’s 17% share.

In November, Samsung said the upcoming Galaxy S24 smartphone would come with its generative AI model, Samsung Gauss, to compete with the likes of ChatGPT, Google Bard, Bing AI chatbot and other generative AI tools.

Sources said some notable features of the Galaxy S24 will include real-time translation during phone calls and search services without an internet connection. If confirmed, Samsung’s reliance on Google for software functions will drop significantly, they said.

Samsung has already registered its AI phone trademark with the European Union Intellectual Property Office and the UK Intellectual Property Office, people familiar with the matter said.

Market research firm Counterpoint Research expects Samsung to become the leader in the “AI phone” market with its market share close to 50% over the next two years.

The on-device AI smartphone market is forecast to grow to 522 million units accounting for 40% of the entire smartphone market by 2027, it said.

Experts said on-device AI technology will eventually be applied to next-generation mobile devices, including smartwatches, wireless earphones and extended reality (XR) headsets.

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang, Ye-Rin Choi and Ik-Hwan Kim at hjs@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.