Tantra Analyst

ChatGPT going public was a watershed moment for AI. The feverish pitch of Gen AI is affecting every aspect of the technology sector. Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024 was no different. Unlike previous events, where the new devices were the center of attraction, this event had “Samsung AI” as the hero. The newly announced S24 series was merely the first instance of the technology.  

Samsung proclaimed that these phones powered by AI, specifically its own “Galaxy AI,” will start a new era. But the question is whether the AI in phones is significant enough to trigger another smartphone upgrade cycle akin to 4G and 5G.

What is “Galaxy AI?”

Samsung AI is a set of user experiences enabled by AI. It includes regular or legacy AI and Gen AI functions and features of its own as well as its partners, such as Google.  

The Galaxy S24 series packs quite a few features that utilize AI. Many improve existing functionality, such as better picture/video capture and editing, while others create entirely new experiences, such as circle-to-search, live voice, and text translation.

Although Samsung mentioned “On-device AI” several times, they didn’t push it hard, as it is not all on-device. Also, not all is Gen AI either. For example, the circle-to-search runs entirely on the cloud and is not Gen AI. Live voice and text translations are a mix of cloud and on-device AI. Most camera and photo/video editing features are on-device. Galaxy S24 offers very granular settings for users to decide whether to share their data with the cloud. However, If they decline, many of the features that depend on the cloud will not work.

Note: To learn more about the advantages of on-device AI, please check these articles.

Many Galaxy AI applications and functions currently offered come directly from Samsung or Google. Samsung did talk about its ecosystem using many of the AI features. However, it was unclear how and to what extent third-party app developers would get access to Samsung AI. I assume that Samsung will offer app developers SDKs and APIs sooner or later. The app developer ecosystem is crucial to scale and make a difference.  

I am saying this was more a Galaxy AI event than the S24 launch because Samsung AI is not exclusive to the S24 series but will be available on select existing Galaxy. Most likely on Galaxy ZFold5, ZFlex5, and possibly S23.

SoC selection, build, display, and other improvements.

Unlike last year, when Qualcomm Snapdragon powered the entire Galaxy S23 line-up, the S24 will use both the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Exynos 2400 SoCs. The distribution between them is also different than in previous years. Instead of simply dividing them by regions, SoCs are also being used for tiering for the first time.

Snapdragon will be used for all models in the USA, China, Japan, and the highest-tier Galaxy S24 Ultra worldwide. Exynos will be used for S24 and S24+ globally, except for the region mentioned above. Historically, the need for CDMA support drove the decision to utilize Snapdragon SoC in certain areas. However, with that technology sun setting, I wonder what factors decided the distribution. Interestingly, Samsung Ai doesn’t seem to be using any of the components from the Qualcomm AI stack.

Because of the dual-sourcing, Qualcomm was also not mentioned during the Unpakced on-stage presentation. Additionally, although Snapdragon boats an impressive AI stack, there was no mention of it being part of Galaxy AI, neither in Samsung’s nor Qualcomm’s press releases.  

Following Apple’s lead, Samsung uses a titanium body for the S24 series and the latest Corning Gorilla Armor glass, which is claimed to be far better scratch and break-resistant. S24 Ultra’s display has an impressive 2500 nits max brightness, much higher than the Apple iPhone 15’s 2000 nits. This makes the S24 Ultra highly usable outdoors in bright sunlight.

One of the most significant announcements of the day was the decision to offer several years of security updates and seven generations of software upgrades. Samsung is following Google’s lead here and will pretty much make it the industry standard. Among all the commendable work Samsung is doing for sustainability, this step, in my view, has the highest impact.

As with any new flagship smartphone, there are incremental improvements in the camera system CPU, GPU, NPU performance, battery life, etc. There is still no satellite connectivity in Samsung phones. It is unclear whether it is waiting to incorporate standards-based NTN or rely on third-party solutions such as AST Space Mobile, which promises statellite connecity with unmodified smartphones. Notably, the latter has used Samsung devices for its demos and PoCs.

Tantra’s Take

At the very outset, it is commendable that Samsung is taking another bold step by becoming the first vendor to introduce Gen AI to smartphones. This continues its tradition of being first with innovations in this industry, be it new form factors like foldable, larger displays, integrated S-pen, etc.

The Samsung AI’s applications and functionality are impressive. However, they seem incremental and improve the existing functionality and experience. They also seem “good to have” and are infrequently used instead of daily drivers. For example, live translation is very impressive but only useful when traveling abroad or talking to somebody who doesn’t know your language. Something seldom happens, especially for Americans. Circle-to-search is handy, but it seems it mostly runs in the cloud and doesn’t require a lot of local AI processing. That means it could be run on older devices, too. Among all the Gen AI applications, camera improvements and photo editing seem to be the most impactful, benefiting almost every user.

So, now the question is whether these things are enough to entice users to buy new phones and start a new upgrade cycle. I think it is still in the early days for Gen AI. The ultimate benefit of on-device GenAI will be when third-party app developers introduce new, exciting use cases, applications, services, and experiences with mass appeal. Until that happens, I am skeptical about a new upgrade cycle starting.

Of course, the new capabilities will advance the purchase of users who are due and looking to upgrade their phones anyway. The excitement of new, shiny technology will entice some bleeding-edge customers to buy new phones. But most others will wait for the mass appeal experiences to be available.

Prakash Sangam is the founder and principal at Tantra Analyst, a leading boutique research and advisory firm. He is a recognized expert in 5G, Wi-Fi, AI, Cloud and IoT. To read articles like this and get an up-to-date analysis of the latest mobile and tech industry news, sign-up for our monthly newsletter at TantraAnalyst.com/Newsletter, or listen to our Tantra’s Mantra podcast.