Samsung unveils AI smartphones with Qualcomm chips, teases smaller Galaxy phones By Reuters

Written by Hyunjoo Jin

SEOUL/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics on Wednesday unveiled its latest Galaxy S25 smartphones, powered by Qualcomm (NASDAQ: ) chips and Google’s brand of artificial intelligence, with hopes that its improved AI features can boost sales and fend off Apple (NASDAQ). 🙂 and Chinese opponents.

Samsung (KS:) has also reviewed the slim version of the models at the end of the event in California, aiming to launch the Galaxy S25 Edge in the first half of this year before Apple is expected to announce its smaller iPhone.

Samsung was faster than Apple in launching an AI-powered smartphone but failed to claim its crown in the global smartphone market last year, squeezed by competition from US rivals in the market the former and the Chinese firms in the lower segment.

“We are one step ahead of the industry in terms of providing AI features. I believe we are moving in the right direction,” Park Ji-sun, executive vice president who leads Samsung’s Language AI group, said. he told Reuters.

Samsung has kept the prices of its Galaxy S25 series unchanged between $799 and $1,299.

The new Galaxy S25 uses Gemini offered by Alphabet (NASDAQ:)’s Google as its default AI engine, and features Samsung’s in-house developed voice assistant, Bixby, Park said.

The two devices complement each other, and Bixby plays an important role for Samsung, whose products provide connectivity to televisions and home appliances, he said.

Thomas Husson, a Forrester analyst, said that differentiating Bixby will be a challenge for Samsung.

“I don’t think there’s a killer app today that you know would convince them (customers), ‘Okay, I’m going to buy it because it’s an AI smartphone,'” he said.

Husson added, however, that AI features could create a halo effect around the Samsung brand.

The Galaxy S25 will offer a unique AI experience. For example, its “Now Brief” service – which makes recommendations to users based on personal data stored and processed on the phone for privacy reasons – will show a list of specific items such as calendar, news and room air temperature and carbon dioxide. conditions, Park said.

The phone will be able to perform multiple tasks with a single command, such as finding upcoming sporting events and adding them to users’ calendars.

Samsung shares were down 1.1%, outpacing the broader market’s loss of 0.4%.

Samsung has used Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform for the entire Galaxy S25 lineup, ditching its Exynos, a major shift in strategy for a company that previously used both to have more mobile power and traders.

Using a Qualcomm chip is a setback for the South Korean firm’s chip business, which counts its mobile division as one of its top customers.

Samsung did not say why it decided not to use its chips in the new model.

A person familiar with the matter said Samsung wants to use the Exynos chip in its foldable phones that will be launched later this year.

“Sales of the Galaxy S25 series are important at a time when Samsung’s smartphone sales are faltering as it faces challenges from Chinese companies,” said Lim Su-jeong, director of the research firm of Counterpoint, he said.

Samsung’s fourth-quarter earnings, released earlier this month, missed estimates by a wide margin due to chip development costs and rising competition in the smartphone market.