Samsung Emphasizes India's Role in AI Development and Sales Strategy

Samsung Exec Terms India Key Market For AI Development

Samsung's two Indian R&D facilities are helping in developing and upgrading features for Galaxy AI and other Galaxy products, said Roh Samsung's global mobile business head T M Roh has reportedly termed India an "important market" for the development and sales of its Galaxy AI technology. "India, keen to adopt the latest technologies and innovations, is a very important country for Samsung in both Galaxy AI development and sales, and will always remain our top priority," said Roh as per news agency PTI. Speaking at a media round-table after the launch of its flagship smartphone S25, the senior executive said that the company's India research and development (R&D) centres at Noida and Bengaluru are helping in "developing, upgrading and differentiating features" for Galaxy AI and other Galaxy products. He added that Samsung plans to increase investments in the two Indian R&D centres, which played a "key role in development" of AI features for Galaxy S25. Roh also said that the company "expects a larger role" from these research facilities in the future. The centres in India are Samsung's largest R&D facilities outside South Korea. Touting the role of local R&D centres, he added that the facilities helped integrate Hindi, along with Korean and English, as one of the languages with Google's voice assistant Gemini Live feature on the new smartphone. Going forward, the company plans to introduce Gemini Live in more languages, and the India R&D centres are expected to play a key role in this. On India being a key market for Samsung's AI-driven offerings, Roh said that the young population of India is "highly receptive" to innovative features. The comments come at a time when more and more global giants are setting up R&D facilities in India to captalise on the high-quality local AI talent. In October last year, Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson said that the company will step up the work on AI and GenAI at its R&D centres in India. Prior to this in September, Chinese tech major Lenovo announced plans to set up a R&D centre in Bengaluru. Last year, Dutch semiconductor design company NXP also said that it will invest more than $1 Bn in India over the next few years.

Samsung mobile biz head says India key market for AI; firm to scale up R&D investments

Samsung will boost investments in its R&D centres in Bengaluru and Noida, crucial for developing AI features for Galaxy S25. Emphasizing India's importance for both AI development and sales, Samsung integrates Hindi in its new smartphone's voice assistant feature. The company plans to expand Gemini Live for more languages, showcasing India's significant role.South Korean tech major Samsung will raise investments in Indian R&D centres at Bengaluru and Noida that have played a key role in development of AI features for its latest smartphone Galaxy S25, the company's President and Head of Mobile eXperience (MX) Business T M Roh said on Thursday and added that the firm expects a larger role from these research facilities in future. Besides, India with its large size of young demography is an important market for the South Korean chaebol for the development and sales of its Galaxy AI technology, he said. "India, keen to adopt the latest technologies and innovations, is a very important country for Samsung in both Galaxy AI development and sales and will always remain our top priority," said Roh at a media round-table after the launch of its flagship smartphone S25 here. Roh further said the young population of India is "highly receptive" to innovative features. The new smartphone, S25, has integrated Hindi, besides Korean and English, as one of the languages with Google's voice assistant Gemini Live feature, in which India R&D centres played a key role. "In particular, the Indian market, with young population, is highly receptive to innovative features, and we see that use of AI features in this market is higher than the global average. That's why the new AI features in Galaxy S25 were developed with Indian language as a top priority," he said. Moreover, the company's India R&D centres at Noida and Bangalore are helping in "developing, upgrading and differentiating features" for Galaxy AI, and also for other Galaxy products. "Thus, for the investment in the Indian R&D centres for given the importance of our resource centres in Noida and Bengaluru, their role is bound to grow, and we will continue to upgrade their contribution," said Roh. Samsung also has plans to expand the Gemini Live feature for more languages, in which the India R&D centres are expected to play a key role. "We are developing, upgrading and differentiating features for Galaxy AI, and also for other Galaxy products... we are starting with these three languages, with S25 Gemini, and then we will expand to other languages as well. So once again, you can see the importance of the Indian market to us, as well as the contribution that is being made by the Indian research centres," said Roh. Samsung's R&D centres in India are the largest outside South Korea. Responding to a query, Roh said Samsung is taking a "hybrid approach" by integration of its own AI apps with Google's Gemini. It is having a "open collaboration philosophy" under which Samsung has kept up long-standing partnerships with industry-leading innovative companies. He further said the industry is currently at an "inflection point", moving from smartphones to AI phones. Samsung is also working with a few telecom operators in some countries on 3GPP-based satellite connectivity for S25 models, though the company did not share much details.

Samsung to step up investment in India for AI features in Galaxy S25 smartphones

San Jose: Samsung will step up investments at its Bengaluru and Noida R&D centres which have played a pivotal role in developing new AI features in Indian languages for its latest Galaxy S25 series of smartphones, the South Korean electronics major's global mobile business head T M Roh said. He added that Samsung's decision to step on Indian languages by including Hindi for offering AI features such as Gemini Live on its S25 series of smartphones, underlined the importance of the India market for the Korean company. 'Gemini Live' is Google's voice-based feature that offers a conversational experience on S25 smartphones. According to Roh, developing new AI features in Indian languages was a top priority for Samsung since the use of AI in India is higher than the global average. "As for investments in Indian R&D centres, given the importance of our research centres in Noida and Bengaluru, their role is bound to grow and we will continue to upgrade their contribution," Roh said Wednesday. He was addressing reporters after Samsung's Unpacked event in San Jose. Roh added that Samsung's R&D centres in India not only work on localisation of features but also on "the engine and platform core," which are very important for the Korean smartphone maker's global products, making a big contribution in developing and upgrading them. According to him, the strategic importance of the India market for Samsung stemmed from the high availability of mobile phones in the country coupled with the presence of a young, mobile-savvy population that is receptive to innovative technologies. "India is a very important country for Samsung for both Galaxy AI development and sales,and will always remain our top priority." Samsung's Roh added that the company's Noida and Bangalore R&D facilities are its largest research resources presence in a single country (after Korea). Teams at these centres are involved in developing, upgrading and differentiating the features for Galaxy AI as well as for other Galaxy products. Separately, he said Samsung is working with several global partners in multiple countries to support satellite communications on its latest S25 series of phones. He, though, declined to name Samsung's potential global satcom partners or if India is among the countries where the S25 phones would support satellite communications. "We are working with a number of global operators and I believe we will be able to make an announcement soon about our support for satellite communications on the S25 phones based on 3GPP global standards." (The writer is in San Jose on an invitation from Samsung)

Samsung to locally manufacture S25 series of AI smartphones in Noida plant

Samsung Electronics announced it would manufacture its latest Galaxy S25 series smartphones locally at its Noida facility in India. Indian engineers played a significant role in the development of the S25 series' AI features. The S25 series, equipped with the powerful Snapdragon® 8 Elite chipset, aims to enhance user experience with improved performance and AI capabilities.South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd will locally manufacture its latest Galaxy S25 series of flagship AI smartphones at its Noida facility in India, a top company executive said. "Indian engineers have contributed significantly to the development of S25 series on Galaxy AI. We will manufacture the new Galaxy S 25 series at our Noida plant in India," JB Park, President and CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia, said Wednesday. Samsung has three R&D centers in India and its Bengaluru research unit is its biggest outside South Korea. Park was speaking in San Jose shortly after Samsung announced a high-octane launch of its Galaxy S25 series of premium AI smartphones, including the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the Galaxy S25+ and Galaxy S25, at the Galaxy Unpacked event in the Silicon Valley. "Indian consumers are the biggest users of Galaxy AI features such as 'circle to search' and 'call assist', and S25 is meant to be your true AI companion. We are confident the Galaxy S25 series will prove more popular than our S24 series in India," Park added. The S25 series is powered by the Snapdragon® 8 Elite chipset for Galaxy. "With unique customisations by Galaxy, this is the most powerful processor ever on Galaxy S series, delivering a performance boost of 40% in NPU, 37% in CPU9 and 30% in GPU compared to previous generations," the Korean smartphone maker said in an official statement Wednesday. "The greatest innovations are a reflection of their users, which is why we evolved Galaxy AI to help everyone interact with their devices more naturally and effortlessly while trusting that their privacy is secured," TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics, said in an official statement Wednesday. "The Galaxy S25 series opens the door to an AI-integrated OS that fundamentally shifts how we use technology and how we live our lives," he added. Samsung and Qualcomm Technologies worked together to customise the Snapdragon® 8 Elite for Galaxy. Snapdragon® 8 Elite for Galaxy is also equipped with the Vulkan Engine and improved Ray Tracing, which makes for smoother and more realistic mobile gaming. The company added that AI agents with multimodal capabilities enable the Galaxy S25 series of smartphones to interpret text, speech, images and videos for interactions that feel natural. Upgrades to Google's Circle to Search3 make searching on the phone screen more helpful, fast and contextual. "Circle to Search now quickly recognizes phone numbers, email and URLs on your screen, letting you call, email or visit a website with a single tap." (The writer is in San Jose on an invitation from Samsung)

Samsung To Make Entire S25 Line-Up At Its Noida Plant, Believes AI Will Help Regain Market Share In India

The Galaxy S25 Ultra aims to compete directly with Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max, while the S25 and S25+ target a competitive pricing strategy against OnePlus and Vivo. Samsung has kicked off 2025 by unveiling its new Galaxy S25 line-up and at the same time, setting a bold vision for its future in India with a clear focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI). The South Korean tech giant has witnessed record-breaking success in the Indian market, with the Galaxy S24 series smashing previous sales benchmarks, JB Park, President and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia told Times Now Tech and Digit in a roundtable discussion on the sidelines of company's Galaxy Unpacked event in San Jose. In a significant move to further boost its presence in India and regain some of the recently lost market share, Samsung has announced that all three models of the Galaxy S25 series -- the S25, S25+, and the flagship S25 Ultra -- will be manufactured at the company's Noida facility. "Indian customers have been integral to Samsung's growth story, and we're proud to build these cutting-edge devices right here in India," said Park. Beyond assembly, Indian engineers have also played a critical role in the development of the Galaxy S25 series, particularly in its advanced AI capabilities, he said. The Noida plan is Samsung's largest manufacturing facility in the world and is already being used to manufacture flagship devices in the country including last year's Galaxy S24 series. The involvement for Samsung's India engineering team in S25 series once again underscores country's rising profile as both a key consumer market and an innovation hub for Samsung. AI Is The Big Hope While the Galaxy S25 series is expected to deliver hardware improvements, Park emphasised that the real game-changer lies in the software experience. He believes that AI will be the primary driver of Samsung's growth in India moving forward. "There's not much left to innovate in hardware," he admitted, "but consumers are increasingly demanding a superior software experience. That marks the start of an AI era." Samsung's focus on AI is not new, but what stands out is how Indian consumers are embracing it. According to Park, customers in India were among the top users of Galaxy AI features on last year's devices. "The future will unfold in a way just like when we experienced internet. We never thought that we will have Zomato deliver food in your home using the internet. That's how the internet involved in a way that nobody could have imagine 20 years ago. We will have to see how creative human life can be with AI," Park said. Samsung's AI strategy for India goes beyond the Galaxy S25 series. Park hinted at broader plans to integrate AI across its ecosystem of products, from smart TVs to wearables. With the new phones though, Samsung would be hoping for a better quarter in India that can help it regain some of the lost market share in India's smartphone market. One of its biggest challenges is striking the right balance between premium innovation and affordability. The Galaxy S25 Ultra, the flagship model, is likely to command a premium price, making it a direct competitor to Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max. Meanwhile, the S25 and S25+ will need to justify their pricing against feature-rich alternatives from OnePlus and Vivo.