We are nearly one month into 2024, and Samsung’s latest flagship lineup has arrived. This year, the South Korean giant focused mostly on AI, introducing a host of new features like the Circle to Search, Live Translate, Chat Assist, and more. While all these features are free at the moment, there’s a strong possibility that users may have to pay for some of these features in the coming time.
Samsung’s EVP Sally Jeong recently mentioned that AI features will remain free until 2025
After that, the company will assess the future direction based on user analysis. The Galaxy S24 series product pages also highlight that different terms may apply for third-party AI functionalities after 2025, leaving room for speculation on the potential evolution of Samsung’s Galaxy AI landscape.
This is because the AI features on the newly launched Galaxy devices operate on both the device and in the cloud. It’s not clear yet if there will be a distinction between these two services. Some Galaxy AI functions need an internet connection and a Samsung account. As the use of AI tools goes up, there might be substantial expenses linked to providing robust AI services in the cloud.
2024 will also see a massive surge in the Gen AI smartphone features, with Samsung expected to lead the way. According to an earlier Counterpoint Research report, “GenAI smartphones are set for a breakthrough this year, with shipments expected to exceed 100 million units in 2024 and reach 522 million units by 2027. Samsung and Qualcomm are seen as leaders, with Samsung projected to capture almost half of the market share in the next two years.”
Furthermore, as the industry anticipates the upcoming iPhone, reports say that Apple will follow Google and Samsung’s AI footsteps. Apple’s upcoming iOS 18 is rumoured to include Gen AI features, aiming to enhance Siri’s abilities and improve the question-answering and sentence autocomplete features in the Messages app.
