Samsung taps Google's AI to help power latest Galaxy phones
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Samsung on Wednesday debuted its latest smartphone family, the Galaxy S24, which relies in part on Google's AI services.
Why it matters: Samsung just fell below Apple in global smartphone sales and no doubt hopes its AI features will help it both stand out and regain lost ground.
Details: As per usual, Samsung is releasing three models of the S24: a base model, a "+" version and a top-of-the-line Ultra model, featuring the largest screen and the most camera lenses as well as a titanium frame.
- The Galaxy S24 Ultra will start at $1,299.99 (up $100 from last year), while the Galaxy S24+ will start at $999.99 and the base model S24 will start at $799.99.
- Pre-orders start today, with devices available in stores starting Jan. 31.
The big picture: Market researchers IDC and Canalys this week reported that in 2023, Apple had — for the first time — surpassed Samsung to become the leader in global smartphone shipments.
Between the lines: Some of the Galaxy phones' AI features run on device, while others rely on the cloud and require an internet connection. Similarly some are Samsung's own creation while others were developed with Google.
- The S24 taps AI for a variety of photo editing, live translation and summarization features.
- Samsung and Google also announced a multi-year partnership to bring Google Cloud's generative AI capabilities to Samsung devices, starting with the S24 series which will be able to make use of Google's recently announced Gemini Pro and Imagen 2 models.
- Among the features developed with Google is one that allows people to search by circling something on the device's screen. Google also said that Samsung is one of the first customers to test Gemini Ultra, the highest-end version of Google's latest AI model. And for some on-device AI work, the S24 series also makes use of Google's Gemini Nano.
