Smartphone dominance: Samsung races Apple with new AI launch
Samsung launched its new artificial intelligence (AI) powered series, marking the latest salvo in its ongoing battle with Apple for dominance in the global market.
While Apple continues to hold its commanding lead in the US, with 53 per cent market share compared to Samsung’s 23 per cent; the latter is betting on its AI technology to challenge the iPhone maker’s supremacy.
Samsung’s AI push comes as both companies aim to use it to revive smartphone interest, after a year of flat global sales.
The firm flagged weaker-than-expected profit for its final quarter of 2024, with its sales dropping 5.3 per cent lower than the prior quarter.
Samsung leans on AI
At Samsung’s ‘Unpacked’ event on Wednesday, it introduced a series of AI-generated devices, under the name Galaxy S25.
This builds on the firm’s first AI-powered smartphone, called the Galaxy S25, which launched in 2024.
President of Samsung’s mobile division, TM Roh, said: “The AI ecosystem that we are developing with Google is very well positioned in the U.S. market.”
Its new AI operating system will be powered by Google’s Gemini language models.
Annika Bizon, Samsung’s UK and Ireland director of mobile experience, stressed the importance of AI in Samsung’s strategy.
“AI has evolved into a true companion”, she said, “it’s like having a personal assistant in your pocket”.
She described the multi-modal AI agents that will interpret text, speech and images in the new series.
“Imagine asking your phone to ‘send me a photo of this,’ and it instantly picks the right image from your gallery. It’s all about giving you time back by handling mundane tasks with a simple command – written or spoken”, she told Morning Wire.
Samsung’s AI push has already shown results, attracting five million users across the UK.
“AI is evolving at a pace we’ve never seen before. It’s rolling out nearly eight times faster than the internet when it first launched in Britain,” Biznon said.
What about Apple?
Apple, on the other hand, has been slower in integrating AI into its devices.
Whilst the iPhone maker added AI in its Siri-ChatGPT integration at the end of 2024, the company has already received some backlash on its generative features.
For example, it was forced to pause its new AI feature for news apps last week, after facing criticism over repeatedly inaccurate summarising features.
While its AI-powered features launched in 2024, they remain less focal to the phone user’s experience.
Samsung’s new series also comes at a pivotal time.
Despite its position as the world’s largest smartphone maker by volume, the tech leader has struggled to narrow the revenue gap with Apple, especially in the American market.
Apple’s focus on its iCloud and Apple Pay services has strengthened its position, while Samsung faces competition from Chinese rivals too in the fold-able phone sector.