Samsung banks on AI expansion to drive demand for S25 phones

Samsung's caller operating strategy is shifting from having AI features mostly wrong applications to a system-wide approach

Author of the article:

Bloomberg News

Mark Gurman and Yoolim Lee

Published Jan 22, 2025  •  4 infinitesimal read

The caller enactment of Samsung Galaxy S25 phones, with precocious camera and artificial quality capabilities, are unveiled astatine a media preview lawsuit successful San Jose, Calif. connected Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo by Haven Daily/Associated Press files

Samsung Electronics Co. is banking connected an artificial intelligence (AI) overhaul and tweaked hardware designs to merchantability its caller enactment of Galaxy S25 smartphones.

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The institution launched 3 caller devices astatine an lawsuit Wednesday successful San Jose, California: the S25 starting astatine US$799, a larger S25+ and the top-tier S25 Ultra priced from US$1,299 and up. Spanning 6.9 inches successful size, the caller Ultra exemplary gains the astir important plan changes and camera hardware upgrades.

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Samsung has sustained an awesome gait of double-digit maturation with its S bid implicit the past 2 years, selling 35 cardinal units of its astir caller flagship, the Galaxy S24 family, according to Counterpoint Research data. The institution has shifted its absorption to higher-tier handsets and present commands a 5th of the planetary premium marketplace — models costing $800 and supra — and accrued its mean selling terms to US$448, IDC marketplace probe showed.

The caller models mostly adhere to Samsung’s established plan language, each somewhat thinner and lighter, with the Ultra variation slimming down the borders astir the show by 15 per cent. The S25 Ultra besides gets a caller Gorilla Glass surface that makes it 29 per cent much resistant to cracking, Samsung said, and caller rounded edges to spell with its titanium frame. That distinguishes it from the aluminum connected the much affordable models.

Samsung’s large selling constituent with this procreation is an assertive AI expansion, via an overhauled operating strategy interface dubbed One UI 7. The AI features are chiefly handled via Google Gemini, but determination are besides immoderate on-device capabilities developed by Samsung itself. The institution calls this attack “hybrid AI.”

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With the latest operating system, Samsung is shifting from having AI features mostly wrong applications to a system-wide approach, the institution showed successful demonstrations. For instance, there’s a caller capableness called AI Select that works crossed the operating strategy to place areas wherever artificial quality tin beryllium used, specified arsenic summarizing the transcript of a YouTube video.

The astir important caller feature: alleged transverse app actions, which let users to inquire the AI strategy to bash aggregate tasks successful 1 command. For instance, they tin inquire the instrumentality to find a section edifice and supply reviews, portion besides adding a preservation to their calendar and text-messaging the details to friends.

One of the main AI features from past year’s devices — Circle to Search — is getting upgraded to let a idiosyncratic to ellipse a telephone number, website oregon email code to rapidly instrumentality action. Samsung representatives said Circle to Search is 1 of the astir fashionable AI features connected its devices and that 10 cardinal users person accessed it. The institution said 20 per cent of Galaxy users prosecute with AI — a fig it would similar to summation with this year’s upgrades.

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There are besides caller idiosyncratic interfaces for AI, including a Now Brief conception that proactively provides a summary for things similar slumber data, upwind forecasts, reminders and calendar items. It besides tin marque suggestions based connected a user’s habits. Or the strategy could supply recommendations connected erstwhile to permission for a meeting, based connected postulation conditions and different calendar appointments.

And there’s a Now Bar — akin to the Live Activities diagnostic connected the iPhone — that volition amusement sports scores, turn-by-turn navigation and different unrecorded information connected the device’s fastener screen.

All 3 S25 models usage a Qualcomm Inc. spot dubbed the Snapdragon 8 Elite that improves performance. The graphics processing unit, oregon GPU, is 30 per cent faster than past year’s models, Samsung said. The cardinal processing unit, oregon CPU, gets a 37 per cent bump, and the neural processing unit, oregon NPU, is 40 per cent faster. The gains bespeak Samsung moving to a 3-nanometer spot plan for the archetypal clip successful its Galaxy series.

The institution besides aims to amended wide show by raising the representation connected the basal exemplary from 8 gigabytes to 12 gigabytes. That matches the S25+ and S25 Ultra.

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Internally, Samsung has made hardware changes to let precocious AI models and applications to tally longer without heating up the phone. To bash that, the institution has improved the vapour enclosure — exertion to dissipate vigor — by making the country wrong the telephone 40 per cent larger connected the Ultra exemplary and 15 per cent bigger connected the different variants, the institution said.

The caller models person akin camera exertion arsenic their predecessors, though the Ultra mentation moves from a 12-megapixel ultrawide rear camera connected the S24 to a 50-megapixel sensor this year.

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That telephone different inactive includes a 200-megapixel wide camera and 10-megapixel and 50-megapixel telephoto lenses. The non-Ultra phones person a azygous 10-megapixel telephoto lens, a 50-megapixel wide camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens.

The caller models besides see improved clarity for videos changeable successful debased airy and a caller diagnostic that tin isolate and erase definite sounds from video, arsenic good arsenic improvements for depth-of-field power and colour grading, the institution showed successful a demonstration.

—With assistance from Vlad Savov.

Bloomberg.com

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