Prakash Sangam:
Hello everyone, welcome back to Tantra’s Mantra where we go behind and beyond the tech news headlines. I’m your host, Prakash Sangam, founder and principal at Tantra Analyst. As you all know, Samsung had its Summer Galaxy AI Unpacked event on July 10th. Proving most of the rumors right, they announced a plethora of devices.Probably, this was their biggest reveal in the recent past.
They announced two foldable phones, Z Fold6 and Z Flip6, two watches, Watch 7 and a brand new Galaxy AI Ultra, a brand new variable, Galaxy AI Ring. Frankly, that’s the most exciting part of all the reveals of the day, in my view. Finally, redesigned Galaxy AI Buds and Buds Pro 3. The list itself, I guess, took a minute or two to list them out. So of course, you have a lot to talk about all of those.
Before that, I would like to give a plug for my discussion about the event with my friend Leonard Lee on his Rethink podcast where we analyzed the whole event and the products as well from an analyst point of view. I’ll include a link to that podcast in the description. I recommend you to check that out.
Now, coming back to today’s discussion, we’ll look at Samsung’s design philosophy, go-to-market strategy and how these devices could possibly evolve in the future. And much more with our guest today. And that guest is Blake Gaiser. He is the Director of Smartphone Product Management at Samsung Electronics America. Blake, welcome to the show.
Blake Gaiser
Thank you so much for having me. Very much looking forward to it.
Prakash Sangam:
Sure. Let’s get started with some quick introductions. Could you please give our audience a quick overview of your background, the product lines that you oversee, and also your winery business?
Blake Gaiser
Yeah. So my background coming out of University of Denver is, I went right into telecommunications with Dish Network and Cricket Wireless. Took a little bit of a breather after those two stints, and ran a high-end earphone business that made earphones for professional musicians. And after the sale of that company, found myself here for about two years now at Samsung.
Prakash Sangam:
And you oversee all the smartphone portfolio or?
Blake Gaiser
Yeah. So, you know, I lead the team here at Samsung that overlooks all of our smartphone product management. So that really means that, you know, we’re looking out about 18 months ahead with our roadmap, helping support HQ with future product launches, and then doing a lot of work in what features and benefits we bring to our customers on all of our smartphones, from A series to S series to our recently released Flip and Fold series.
Prakash Sangam:
Excellent. And now about your winery business.
Blake Gaiser
Yeah. Winery business was something that started with my family. And back in 2007, we’ve been running it ever since out of California. It’s in a cool wine region called Amador County.And it’s really just kind of a love project for all of us, making big red wines and a couple of fun white wine.
Prakash Sangam:
Cool. We should check it out sometime.
Blake Gaiser
Absolutely.
Prakash Sangam:
So as I mentioned, you had tons of devices announced on that day. Let’s start with the foldables. So they have come along quite a long way, right? So you are the pioneers to introduce this new form factor. Now, almost every OEM except Apple has them. But there’s still a niche, right? With the small market share, I would say. When do you think they’ll become major category? You know, going toe-to-toe with your Galaxy AI S series. And what is needed to make that happen?
Blake Gaiser
Absolutely. You know, we are on our sixth generation. But sometimes they say it takes many years to be new to a market. So it doesn’t have the awareness that one would have with a traditional smartphone that’s been in the market for 15 years.But it’s a super exciting form factor and one that, you know, we’re just starting to scratch the surface on bringing out all that we can with the Fold and the Flip phones.
And what we see is that our customers who actually purchased our foldable phones have the highest satisfaction rate. They really love the use cases. They love the unique capabilities that these devices have. And they’re more likely to tell their friends and get their friends in on it. And so we do believe that the innovation has come a long way.
You know, we have done so much on making these premium smartphones in line with our S-series and more and more and took a pretty dramatic leap, I would say, with Flip and Fold6 on really making sure that these are true powerhouse devices that have these unique capabilities to bring even more to the experience of our customers.
Prakash Sangam:
Yeah, sure. I think during the event, you shared some interesting feedback from your affordable users, right?
Blake Gaiser
Yeah. What we see is that they have the highest propensity to repurchase with the highest likelihood and customer satisfaction well into the high 90 percent, which is great for a smartphone. Evidence that as we’re continuing to evolve these devices, bring them in line from form factor, weight, size, and performance, that you’re getting to a point where there isn’t going to be a trade-off that we had to do in the earlier generations of these devices.
Prakash Sangam:
Correct. And that’s exactly, actually, I wrote in my USA Today article that it’s not a compromise anymore. You basically get a new form factor with exactly the same performance I would get with your flagships.
Blake Gaiser
Absolutely. Yeah.
Prakash Sangam:
So when you look across, so these two foldables serve different use cases and markets. Right? Fold is more productivity, primarily targeting enterprise, I would say, and high-end and premium market there. You know, it’s a good phone. Could become a mainstream, but it’s going to be a stretch because it is for a specific use case and user profile.
Whereas, if I look at Flip, which is more playful consumer device and, in my view, has the ability to come to the level of, say, flagship S-level phones, you want to replace it because it’s kind of set the same market and the purpose but has many more advantages and so on.
Blake Gaiser
What’s your view? You know, I do agree with you. There’s a reason that we have two different form factors of our foldables. You know, our fold, the one that looks like a traditional bar phone when closed and when opened up, gives you more of a tablet-like experience, is for that customer that what we like to envision them as, is like the maximum productivity.
That could be business, to your point with enterprise, but it’s also for those personalities who like to get more done more efficiently and more effectively. So it’s not only business use cases that really play a part for that customer, but it’s being able to do more at the same time. Especially when you open it up to that tablet view, what we’re seeing is that that user is utilizing multi-windows on their devices far more than any of our other devices.
So they could be watching a video while scrolling the Internet or social media at the same time, and they’re really utilizing those productivity tools, even outside a business sense, if you will. And then obviously with that big screen and that high-performance chip to it, gaming satisfaction on the Fold is our highest as well. Being able to see more on that tablet-esque screen and interact with it more, is really what that Fold customer.
And then to the Flip customer, what we find is that it’s much more of a creative customer. That flips down into half the size of a bar phone, it’s easily in your pocket. Last year, we introduced the Flex window, which is that front screen, really make it much more usable for those customers. And even more importantly, being able to utilize the flagship lenses, because you can see yourself on those.
And so what we’ve found is that, that customer actually takes more selfies than any customer out there, and they’re spending more time on social media. They’re updating their wallpapers a lot more, and it’s really for that customer that when it’s closed down, they can do the minimalist things that they want to do, respond to text messages, look at maps on that front cover screen, and then open it up and have the full usability of a typical smartphone.
And so they are uniquely different customers who have uniquely different needs. And, you know, to that part, it’s kind of an evolution in our mind share of like the Note series when we’re talking about the Fold. You know, at one point, that was too big for people, and why do I need an S Pen? And now it’s a staple flagship phone.
And so we do believe that as people become more aware and used to these devices, and we bring more and more to them, like we have with Galaxy AI AI and with our Flip and Fold6, that it’s really going to compel more and more users into this market.
Prakash Sangam:
I had a Fold4. I used it extensively. I mean, I was in love with the phone. Yeah, and it’s interesting to find out that Flip phone owners are more likely to get more selfies than regular phones. That’s interesting to know. It is very stylish as well, right? You can personalize it, and it shows your personality rather than just being a device, right?
Blake Gaiser
Yeah, and you know what? I don’t do it nearly enough justice, but Sydney Sweeney, who was at our Unpacked event, you spend a little bit of time on her Instagram, and you can see just all the customization and fun that you can have with that form factor from somebody who really loves and uses that device.
Prakash Sangam:
Interesting. I should check that out. In terms of the evolution of these devices, I mean, they have gotten to a point where I think the crease is almost invisible now, right? The screen crease and the hinge has become pretty robust. The display itself is pretty good now as well. What are the trajectories that you’re looking to evolve the phone on?
Blake Gaiser
Yeah. We made a pretty dramatic enhancement in our durability with our Flip and Fold 5, starting with that hinge. It’s the primary component of the device, and we tested up to 200,000 open and closes, which would take you an extremely long time to actually do in real life. We made similar enhancements this year to our hinge, making it even more durable.
To that point is within the screen, we added an extra layer onto that screen to provide additional enhancements to keep it from getting damaged from any pokes or scrapes or anything that you have in it, as well as it closing completely shut and providing additional security to that device. And that’s for both our flip and our fold.
And we’re so confident in the durability of these products that each one inherently gets what we call our Z Assurance program. And that is where you can get a one-time free screen protector replacement on Samsung. But we also wanted to make sure that if accidents did happen and you did damage that large inside screen, that you wouldn’t be out of pocket more than you would for traditional bar type phone. So we’re providing every customer inherently with these devices a one-time screen replacement of $200, which is in line and better than what you could get on a traditional phone.
Prakash Sangam:
And when you look towards the future, what are the things that you’re looking to improve? Making it even thinner, even lighter, and so on?
Blake Gaiser
I think we’re always going to strive to have these devices match a traditional smartphone style and continue to work to decrease weight where we can. We did so with Fold6, this go-around to where it’s nearly the same weight as an S24 Ultra. Really getting that hand feel, really getting that closed position as thin as comfortable in the hand as possible.
Then as we’re moving forward, we’re really looking at how can we, with our Galaxy AI AI, bring even more to these devices. We took a big step with Flip and Fold6 on bringing meaningful Galaxy AI AI features to these devices that utilize the fact that you have two screens available to you. We’re continually working through, talking through various things that we can do to allow that experience to be even more enhanced year-over-year.
Prakash Sangam:
Sure. You had this little bit higher in terms of price this year, so any thinking and rationale behind that? I think it was like $100 more than last year.
Blake Gaiser
Yes, there was a price increase of $100 year-over-year. And that’s the price that we had maintained since the Flip and Fold 3. And we did our best to continue to maintain the price point of these devices, while making them true, premium, high-performance devices. And since Flip and Fold 3, we’ve increased the RAM to 12 gigabytes, we’ve increased the storage, we’ve brought the newest generation processor year-over-year.
We’re now with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy AI, as well as doing things like increasing the screen brightness up to 2600 nits. The screen size has increased as well. And we’re continuing to push the envelope of performance. And for this go-around, it was something that we had to make a decision on that price increase.
But we do believe with our partnerships with our carriers and the various promotions that are out there and available to our customers that it is still an accessible device to many people who wouldn’t think so initially.
Prakash Sangam:
Okay. So now moving on to watches. I mean, overall, I think wearables are at a critical juncture wherein the gap between consumer wearables and medical devices is evaporating. Right. For example, your Ultra watches are FDA approved for sleep apnea, ECG, irregular heart detection and so on. So as we move towards this confluence between the two, so that will make the market explode, right? You could use a consumer device for medical applications, right?
Blake Gaiser
We have absolutely seen that trend, and it’s important to so many of us. Our health is something that for anyone my age and older, it’s came down to a checkup maybe once a year, where you could have a good idea as to how you’re doing with your own health. Now having it on your wrist and in a dashboard on your phone that can constantly check up on you, let you know how you’re doing and how you’re feeling, that’s important to people.
We want to be empowered to make right decisions. And what’s really excited about the watch and the ring that we’ll talk about later is, all of this data that we’re collecting on a dashboard on your phone, with what we call an energy score, which was something that we worked on to give you a snapshot as to how everything’s doing from your heart rate to your temperature, respiratory rate, even to sleep apnea, that you can add a snapshot, have a great idea as to where you’re sitting with your health.
And what I’ve found as I utilize all these devices is that, you know, it’s almost turned into a gamification for myself of trying to treat myself healthier because I have the data available to me. And that sounds like a great outcome from a device that you have on yourself, you know, most of the day, if not 24 hours a day.
Prakash Sangam:
Yeah, and also I think the score is important. You know, you don’t have to go through these 200 different numbers and be confused on what they mean, and what’s good, what’s not. So our score is easy to understand, it’s easy to compare, right? So I think that’s useful.
You know, Watch Ultra, the newest one. It’s interesting. So it’s new, I mean, you had Watch 5 Pro and there was no 6 Pro or 7 Pro, and then you come with Ultra, which to me looks like a new Pro or a upgraded Pro, if you will. So how is this positioning working? Will Ultra be a new Pro or you’ll still have Pros in the future? Both will exist. If so, how do they compare and contrast with each other?
Blake Gaiser
Yeah. Well, we don’t talk too much about our future roadmap, but what I’ll tell you about Ultra is that it was really our goal to really provide that product for our users who want the best out of everything, from the longest battery to the most exact health count steps, GPS, to be able to do anything and go anywhere for as long as possible and have that peace of mind regardless of what you’re doing.
It was really geared towards that person who just wants everything out of their smartwatch that they possibly can have. That was the end goal in mind was to just create a beautiful looking device that can do so much in so many different ways.
Prakash Sangam:
Yeah. If you look at the numbers, these premium watches are the fastest growing market and it just fits perfectly there and it’s a good business decision. You are neither denying nor agreeing to saying that the pro naming and the models and category will continue along with the art.
Blake Gaiser
Yeah, that’s one way to say it.
Prakash Sangam:
Yeah, I’ll see how it goes because that’s confusing. I mean, I talked to a few people. I was confused myself. Maybe you should clear that out at some point of time.
Although the ultra and foldables took all the attention, I think the most significant announcement of this Unpacked was the Galaxy AI Ring. In terms of this confidence of consumer and medical device, I think it’s exactly at the center there. I can see so many use cases. For example, elder care. Since somebody is wearing this, they could actually wear 24-7, maybe taking it out only once a week or something like that, for a couple of hours for charging.
So you can do continuous monitoring that no other device could do, right? So that has a tremendous scope in my view, especially if it also comes with the glucose monitoring kind of applications and so on.
Blake Gaiser
You know, the Galaxy AI Ring is such an exciting device, and it’s one that, you know, just like we were talking about earlier, those with Samsung watches that were able to utilize a lot of the health benefits that that watch could bring, you know, if it was something that you were going to try to sleep with, for some people is uncomfortable.
Prakash Sangam:
Yeah, I don’t sleep with the watch, for example.
Blake Gaiser
And the Ring is, you know, just that perfect device. It doesn’t look like a tech device. It comes in, you know, three great colors, your black, silver and gold. It’s extremely comfortable and it’s a titanium band. So I’ve been wearing it for a couple of months now, have yet to get a single scratch on it. Don’t even notice that I’m wearing it. And to your point is, you know, up to a seven day battery life and it takes only 80 minutes to charge.
So even if you take it off to get ready in the morning, you have a whole week ahead of you again till you have to do that.
Prakash Sangam:
Yeah. And I can foresee, I’m sure you’ll not comment on it, but you can actually make the battery life even longer, but of course optimization also, you know, ambient charging, right? There are a lot of technologies coming out wherein you can harness the energy so that you don’t even have to put that on a charger. It can be a perpetual charging cycle if you will in the future, right? So yeah, I see a lot of scope for it.
Prakash Sangam:
Yeah. And you know, to your point, there’s a lot of exciting technology. There’s so much technology built into this ring that it’s hard to even fathom, especially once you get your hands on them. And you know, additionally, what’s great about all of these products is that they work seamlessly together. So when you’re wearing a watch, which I do religiously, I don’t even know what my phone ringer is because I just let it vibrate on my watch.
And when you’re wearing your watch and your ring together, it’s actually intelligently understanding what’s being used. And that alone increases the battery life by up to 30% on your ring. And it’s also giving you even better health tracking as it has two different points on your body to, you know, be able to measure all the different things that we do.
That, you know, it’s just a great seamless ecosystem. And then you get cool things like being able to double pinch on your ring to take a picture with your phone. So take it even, you know, a step further of being able to dismiss alarms and control that camera on top of it.It gives it that, you know, step further than just a, you know, health gadget. And it’s one that you don’t pay a subscription for every month.
Prakash Sangam:
Yeah, that’s key. That’s a good differentiation. And it talked about AI, right? And AI could play a very key role here. I mean, you have watch, ring, device. You may have all of them or some of them.And then you can trade off between accuracy and the battery life. For example, if you’re out somewhere and you’re low on the smartphone battery, then you may be, ring does a lot of the work and let phone sleep for longer time, right?
So and vice versa, if you have, well, using Galaxy AI AI all coming from the same vendor, that’s interesting too. So Galaxy AI AI, I think that’s kind of one thing, binding all of these together, right? And if you will, Samsung experience.
Blake Gaiser
Absolutely. You know, we launched Galaxy AI AI with the S24. And we look at AI through a couple of different lenses in the mobile category. And that comes down to productivity, communication and creativity. And what our goal is with Galaxy AI AI is kind of twofold. One, it’s just to bring more efficiencies to the things that you do every single day. And two, it’s to do it in a way that you don’t even know you’re utilizing it.
While empowering you to choose what you want to use and what you don’t want to use. So we do allow our users to make sure that what they’re using is only done on-device if that’s how they feel. Or to be able to utilize some of the more power-intensive cloud server versions. And then to just really maximize those things that we do every single day, from how we search for things, how we compose, how we communicate.
We’re up to 16 languages to date with more coming by the end of the year. So we like to stay here at Samsung, that we speak 16 languages. What’s really neat about it is, this is a product that people are actually utilizing, and they’re utilizing it much more than what we would expect from any software feature we would have brought to our phone previously.
So translation services, even here in the US, are being utilized quite a bit. With Flip and Fold, you can have conversations in separate languages, and put the phone in flex mode, and have a face-to-face conversation with somebody in a different language, and that’s extremely awesome. We hear a lot from our customers of grandchildren talking to their grandparents who they’ve never shared a language with before and being able to connect real-time without mom or dad having to be present.
So there’s just so much that can come to it. Obviously, with all the work that we do with HQ in Korea, it helps me quite a bit because my Korean is not getting any better. I see across the board communication, but it’s interesting to see that even in the US., people are using it.
Prakash Sangam:
So Galaxy AI AI, I mean, there are tons of AI in the device, right? There is an on-device AI, there is AI on the SOC itself, and there is Google services. So it’s all coming together. So it seems like for all the on-cloud stuff, you utilize Google’s AI engines and models and so on. You use Google’s Gemini for on-device AI and so on. So is that right, or are you looking to develop your own models and so on?
Blake Gaiser
So we actually have been working on artificial intelligence, starting back even before 2017. We built out through that time our own large language module called Gauss, which helps to train our on-device AI. So all of our on-device AI is Samsung built. All of our translation services, many of our camera features, utilizing on-device AI from being able to remaster photos, remove reflections, a lot of those different things are actually Samsung grown.
What we like to say and what we truly believe is that AI is, it’s still in its infancy and it’s obviously become extremely popular to date. What we’ve found is that collaboration and partnership is going to provide our customers with the best experience. Instead of trying to do everything, we’re working hard with our partners to provide an experience that you can’t get on any other phone, on any of our competitors, that takes all of the learnings and all of the neat features that Samsung has built upon, tied in with Google, with Snapdragon, with Microsoft, under the One UI 6.1 interface.
At the end of the day, the customer wants our products to work as they expand to work. We recognize that strong partnerships and collaboration can provide the best experience that no one else can match.
Prakash Sangam:
Yeah, sure. So, you are saying for all the on-device AI is using your own LLM, right?
Blake Gaiser
Correct.
Prakash Sangam:
Okay, that’s interesting. And, I know we can talk about AI all along, right? But one last question, in terms of how you are packaging it. So, you mentioned from a user’s perspective, it’s all Galaxy AI AI, whether it is your own, whether it is coming from third party like Google, I’m sure going forward, there will be many third parties providing different kinds of models and services.
So, what I’m hearing from you is, from user’s perspective, it will be all through Galaxy AI AI, front end, and on the back end, you manage all these different models and players and so on. It’s not exposed to the user in terms of branding and so on. Is that right?
Blake Gaiser
For the most part, with our relationship, Google specifically, there are some products that are not unique to just Samsung devices, but are extremely useful to our customers like Circle to Search. Google is the search engine of the world, and their product of Circle to Search, we wouldn’t necessarily tie into Galaxy AI AI.
But what we did do was work very hard with them to seamlessly integrate it into the operating system and into Samsung’s one UI user interface.
Prakash Sangam:
Okay. Cool. Now the last part, Galaxy AI Buds. I think it was bored of you guys to come up with a brand new design after two generations of the product. How did that come about?
Blake Gaiser
Came about from two different insights. The first was really taking a deep dive and doing dramatic number of measurements of the ear and recommending. We’re a global company and we’re looking to make products for the entire world. So we wanted to, first and foremost, make sure that these are going to be the most comfortable devices that we have ever made.
Secondly, we packed a whole lot into these devices, especially when we’re including Galaxy AI AI into them, to do things like advanced noise isolation, making sure to have adaptive EQs and that active ANC. How could we balance making the most comfortable fit alongside with putting some of the most technological advancements into these devices, including in our pro, in our tweeter to give you an extension of your sound unavailable to any of our previous devices.
It just came to be that that was the natural fit, pun intended, I guess you would say. Works for all of those different things. The added benefit of that stim is it gives you additional touch points to be able to pause, playback, answer phone calls, change what kind of listening setting that you’re into. And it’s truly a fantastic device.
I mean, I ran an earphone company for eight years and I can tell you that I’m extremely happy with the quality of the sound of these devices, the battery and how long it lasts, the advancements in ANC and being able to truly identify what it’s hearing from the outside to what you’re hearing in your canal and providing you with the best listening experience.
Understanding if you’re on a podcast, that you’re going to want to hear somebody’s voice the most and make sure that that is as active as possible. Whereas if you’re listening to music in a loud environment, you’re going to want a dynamic soundstage that gives you great lows and reaching highs. So it does a great job on tying that all together intelligently.
Prakash Sangam:
Yeah, sure. The stems are really useful when you are using them on planes. It’s so easy to lose them and once they’re gone, they’re gone in a plane. If they go in between the seats and so on. So the stem makes it really easy to hold them securely without losing them. So that’s a big positive there.
Blake Gaiser
It does that, but sometimes you just want to be left in your music. And so it’s a little bit more evident that you have them in your ears when they’re not in your time.
Prakash Sangam:
Yeah, it’s like, don’t disturb me son on your head. Do not disturb like.
Blake Gaiser
Yeah. You think you guys have settled on this design or is it still an evolving process? Like Buds 4, you think you’ll have the same design or you’re still searching for the best?
Blake Gaiser
The only thing I can promise you is that Samsung is constantly innovating and constantly looking to make a product better every single year. And we really allow our innovation and advancements kind of dictate those kind of decisions. So your guess is as good as mine.
Prakash Sangam:
Okay, all right. So one feedback from me on the whole, you know, Unpacked event, this and previous ones is, I think you have so many of products and consumers lives in their homes and so on. I think what would be a compelling story is not sell these devices as their individual devices with, you know, good specs, performance and so on.
Come up with the Samsung experience story, which basically ties them all. It’s very hard because there are many different kinds of devices, but that’s a challenge, right? So you tie them with the Samsung experience story that only you guys can provide in a differentiated way than anybody else, right? So any views on that?
Blake Gaiser
I, you know, couldn’t agree with you more. As Samsung employees, we get, you know, the opportunities to experience these products on a daily basis. And as I came into the role, it was really pushing my team and some of the other teams of doing better at answering the question, why do I care?
And allowing us to be storytellers into the crazy engineering that goes into these devices, but more importantly, why it matters and how much easier people’s lives become with that connected ecosystem. And so it’s a story that will continue to evolve and continue to tell.
And continue to listen to our customers as to what it is they want and need, and see how we can help them day in and day out with every single Samsung product that they have on them and in their house.
Prakash Sangam:
All right, Blake, that was a great discussion. Thank you very much for all the insights. I’ll be looking forward to how these things sell and what kind of traction they find. And as I mentioned, I’m really excited about the Galaxy AI Ring than others. So what future things you guys could do with it.
Blake Gaiser
Absolutely. And I so appreciate your time and the ability to tell a little bit more about our story.
Prakash Sangam:
Absolutely. Thank you again for coming over to Tantra’s Mantra. So folks, that’s all we have for now. I hope you found this discussion informative and useful. If so, please hit like and subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you’re listening this on.
I’ll be back soon with another episode putting light on another interesting tech subject.
Bye bye for now.
