Samsung Plans to Double AI-Powered Devices with Gemini to Strengthen Its Smartphone Market Position

Samsung Electronics co-CEO TM Roh stated that the company plans to double the number of its mobile devices equipped with AI features powered by Google’s “Gemini” model this year, giving Samsung a competitive edge amid the intensifying global AI race.

By the end of last year, Samsung had already integrated Gemini-powered AI features into approximately 400 million mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, and aims to increase this number to 800 million devices by 2026.

In his first interview since assuming the role of co-CEO in November, Roh said, “We will implement AI across all products, functions, and services as quickly as possible.”

Regaining Leadership and Competing with Apple

Samsung, the largest supporter of the Android platform worldwide, aims to give a significant boost to Google in the race to attract users to its AI models. At the same time, the company seeks to reclaim its leadership in the smartphone market and counter growing Chinese competition across various electronics sectors.

The company plans to offer comprehensive AI services on smartphones to widen the feature gap with Apple, despite the U.S. tech giant leading the market last year according to Counterpoint data.

The AI Race

Google launched the latest version of “Gemini” in November, highlighting its performance superiority across several benchmarks. In response, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared an internal emergency to accelerate development, with the company releasing an updated version of the ChatGPT model just weeks later.

TM Roh expects rapid adoption of these technologies, noting that awareness of the “Galaxy AI” brand has jumped from 30% to 80% within a single year. He predicts that, “Even if AI currently faces some skepticism, it will become widely adopted within six months to a year.”

Challenges in the Smartphone Market and Emerging Technologies

Regarding the global memory chip shortage, Roh acknowledged that while it benefits Samsung’s semiconductor division, it pressures profit margins in the smartphone segment. He added that price increases may become inevitable due to rising chip costs.

Roh also noted that the foldable smartphone market is growing slower than expected due to engineering complexities and a lack of dedicated applications, but he anticipates this sector will become mainstream and a market leader within the next three years.