Samsung Unveils Galaxy S25 with Advanced AI Features, Challenging Apple's iPhone Dominance

Samsung Taps Google AI, Qualcomm Tech for Galaxy S25 to Rival Apple's iPhone - Samsung Electronics Co (OTC:SSNLF), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Galaxy S25 Edge launches in 2025, focusing on AI personalization to compete with Apple's iPhone 17 Air. On Wednesday, Samsung Electronics SSNLF showcased its latest Galaxy S25 smartphones powered by Qualcomm Inc QCOM chips and Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google's artificial-intelligence model. Samsung aimed to launch the Galaxy S25 Edge in the first half of 2025, ahead of Apple Inc's AAPL slimmer iPhone 17 Air launch. The iPhone 17 Air boasts 8GB of RAM to support Apple Intelligence AI features. Samsung's AI-powered smartphone succumbed to rivalry from Apple in the luxury market and Chinese firms in the affordable and budget segment. Also Read: AMD Teams Up With Taiwan Semi To Take On Samsung In Smartphone Market Samsung kept the prices of its Galaxy S25 series intact at $799 and $1,299. Samsung's Language AI team lead, Park Ji-sun, told Reuters that the company was ahead of the industry regarding its AI features. Park told Reuters that the new Galaxy S25 leveraged Gemini as its default AI engine with in-house voice assistant, Bixby. The Galaxy S25 promised a more personalized AI experience. The phone can execute multiple tasks with a single command. Samsung leveraged Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform for the entire Galaxy S25 lineup. Samsung is reportedly considering using the Exynos chip in its foldable phones. In 2024, JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee flagged Qualcomm as making up for the loss of Apple revenue for its mobile SOC (and modem) technology through its collaboration with Samsung and diversification into the automotive and IoT sectors. Price Action: QCOM stock is down 0.43% at $169.51 premarket at last check Thursday. Also Read: Apple's iPhone Dependence Remains, But Services, Wearables Offer Growth Potential: Analyst Photo via Samsung GOOGLAlphabet Inc$199.400.52%Overview Rating:Good62.5%Technicals Analysis1000100Financials Analysis400100WatchlistOverviewQCOMQualcomm Inc$171.090.50%SSNLFSamsung Electronics Co Ltd$42.48-13.8%AAPLApple Inc$226.271.09%GOOGAlphabet Inc$201.120.54%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Samsung unveils Galaxy S25 phone with Qualcomm chips and enhanced AI features

SEOUL/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics on Wednesday unveiled its newest flagship smartphone, powered by Qualcomm's chips and Google's artificial-intelligence model, hoping its upgraded AI features can reinvigorate sales and fend off Apple and Chinese rivals. Samsung was faster than Apple in launching an AI-powered smartphone but failed to regain its crown in the global smartphone market last year, squeezed by stiff competition with the U.S. rival in the premium market and with Chinese firms in the lower-end segment. "We are one step ahead of the industry in terms of offering AI features. I believe we are going in the right direction," Park Ji-sun, the executive vice president who leads Samsung's Language AI team, told Reuters. Samsung kept the prices of its Galaxy S25 series unchanged at between $799 and $1,299. The new Galaxy S25 uses Gemini, offered by Alphabet's Google, as its default AI engine and also features Samsung's upgraded in-house voice assistant, Bixby, Park said. The two tools are complementary to each other, and Bixby plays a key role at Samsung, whose products span mobile phones to TVs and home appliances, he said. Thomas Husson, an analyst at Forrester, said that differentiating Bixby would be a challenge for Samsung. "I don't think there is really a killer application today that you know would convince them (consumers), 'OK, I'm going to buy this one 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 more personalized AI experience. For example, its "Now Brief" service - which makes recommendations to users based on personalized data that is stored and processed on the phone for privacy reasons - will display a suite of customized items such as calendars, news and bedroom air temperature and carbon dioxide levels, Park said. The phone will be able to carry out multiple tasks with a single command, such as finding upcoming sporting events and then adding them to users' calendars. Samsung used Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform for the entire Galaxy S25 lineup, ditching its own mobile chip Exynos, a major change of strategy for a company that previously used both to have more bargaining power with suppliers. Using a Qualcomm chip is a setback to the South Korean firm's chip business, which counts its mobile division as one of its major customers. Samsung did not say why it decided not to use its own chips in the new model. A person familiar with the matter said Samsung is looking to use the Exynos chip in its foldable phones to be launched later this year. "The Galaxy S25 series' sale is important at a time when Samsung's foldable phone sales have been stagnating in the face of challenges from Chinese companies," Lim Su-jeong, associate director at research firm Counterpoint, said. Samsung's preliminary fourth-quarter profit, released earlier this month, missed estimates by a large margin due to chip development costs and rising competition in the smartphone market. (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in Seoul and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Matthew Lewis)

Samsung's AI alliance with Google could spell trouble for the iPhone - here's why

Samsung's partnership with Google imbues its new Galaxy S25 phones with powerful AI and deep integration across its ecosystem. That's a major, major win. Today at its Unpacked event, Samsung announced its new lineup of AI-packed Galaxy smartphones, including an on-device LLM that learns from your habits and multimodal AI that can take action based on what it sees and hears. After some users gave a lukewarm reception to Apple Intelligence in the iPhone 16, Samsung's Galaxy S25 lineup remains focused on innovative AI features, while doubling down on integrations across its ecosystem of products. Samsung wants its ecosystem to be persistent across all its devices, understanding that the lines between tablets, smartphones, and laptops are starting to blur. "Consumers' lives are not as binary as they used to be," Danielle Moten, Samsung's director of PC product told me in an interview. "We've taken the ability to continue what you're doing from device to device." Also: Everything announced at Samsung Unpacked 2025 Samsung repeatedly referenced its "shared vision for an open AI ecosystem" during its Unpacked keynote event, highlighting its partnership with Google and positioning the pair as leaders in AI innovation, with AI existing across devices and operating systems. "We want to offer a truly cross-OS platform experience," MC Lee, Samsung corporate VP, elaborated in the same interview. "When it comes to the Galaxy ecosystem, we made no compromises." The Galaxy S25 lineup backs up that claim, with a focus on software and flexible, multimodal AI that Samsung says will break down barriers between different functions, ultimately transcending the app. Samsung's partnership with Google's Project Astra imbues its devices with cutting-edge features like screen share and live video streaming, setting the Galaxy devices apart from other Androids (even Google's own Pixel line). Also: Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge first look: Specs and features, release date, price, more Many of these features have certainly been informed by Apple, which has a reputation for having (arguably) the best integration across its own ecosystem. Samsung seemingly wants to take a page from Apple's book, but do it better, with the understanding that deep cross-device integration is what keeps users embedded within the ecosystem. This is something Apple knows all too well: the iPhone is ubiquitous, and many of the users stick with the device because they know how to use it, it does what they need, and all of their other devices "just work" with it. Once you have that established, most consumers will not bother to unravel the web. That is, unless there's a strong reason to. Samsung's vision is to attract new users by expanding its market share across the wearable, laptop, and smartphone markets, uniting all of these products under one usability stream and fueled by useful, unique AI features. Right now, it's capitalizing on the fact that consumers hear a lot about AI, but most people still don't even know how to use it. Also: Why I may finally switch from Pixel to Samsung Galaxy this year - and it's Google's fault It's not alone in its quest. In partnership with Google, Samsung is positioning itself as the arbiter of AI innovation opposite Apple (a partnership that may also yield AR glasses) and bring the gains made by Google's Gemini to not just a singular product, but a living, breathing ecosystem that can scale en masse. With Google's help, this design philosophy could be the fuel that propels Samsung to a position to truly challenge the iPhone. We'll just have to wait and see once we can fully test the new Galaxy S25 devices. Until then, I'll be keeping my eye on this

Samsung and Google's AI partnership is a bigger win than you think - and I'm worried for Apple

Samsung's partnership with Google imbues its new Galaxy S25 phones with powerful AI and deep integration across its ecosystem. That's a major, major win. At its Unpacked event yesterday, Samsung announced its new lineup of AI-packed Galaxy smartphones, including an on-device LLM that learns from your habits and multimodal AI that can take action based on what it sees and hears. Also: Everything announced at Samsung Unpacked 2025 After some users gave a lukewarm reception to Apple Intelligence in the iPhone 16, Samsung's Galaxy S25 lineup remains focused on innovative AI features, while doubling down on integrations across its ecosystem of products. Samsung wants its ecosystem to be persistent across all its devices, understanding that the lines between tablets, smartphones, and laptops are starting to blur. "Consumers' lives are not as binary as they used to be," Danielle Moten, Samsung's director of PC product told me in an interview. "We've taken the ability to continue what you're doing from device to device." Samsung repeatedly referenced its "shared vision for an open AI ecosystem" during its Unpacked keynote event, highlighting its partnership with Google and positioning the pair as leaders in AI innovation, with AI existing across devices and operating systems. "We want to offer a truly cross-OS platform experience," MC Lee, Samsung corporate VP, elaborated in the same interview. "When it comes to the Galaxy ecosystem, we made no compromises." The Galaxy S25 lineup backs up that claim, with a focus on software and flexible, multimodal AI that Samsung says will break down barriers between different functions, ultimately transcending the app structure as we know it altogether. Samsung's partnership with Google's Project Astra imbues its devices with cutting-edge features like screen share and live video streaming, setting the Galaxy devices apart from other Androids (even Google's own Pixel line). Also: Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge first look: Specs and features, release date, price, more Many of these features have certainly been informed by Apple, which has a reputation for having (arguably) the best integration across its own ecosystem. Samsung seemingly wants to take a page from Apple's book, but do it better, with the understanding that deep cross-device integration is what keeps users embedded within the ecosystem. This is something Apple knows all too well: the iPhone is ubiquitous, and many of the users stick with the device because they know how to use it, it does what they need, and all of their other devices "just work" with it. Once you have that established, most consumers will not bother to unravel the web. That is, unless there's a strong reason to. Samsung's vision is to attract new users by expanding its market share across the wearable, laptop, and smartphone markets, uniting all of these products under one usability stream and fueled by useful, unique AI features. Right now, it's capitalizing on the fact that consumers hear a lot about AI, but most people still don't even know how to use it. Also: Why I may finally switch from Pixel to Samsung Galaxy this year - and it's Google's fault It's not alone in its quest. In partnership with Google, Samsung is positioning itself as the arbiter of AI innovation opposite Apple (a partnership that may also yield AR glasses) and bring the gains made by Google's Gemini to not just a singular product, but a living, breathing ecosystem that can scale en masse. With Google's help, this design philosophy could be the fuel that propels Samsung to a position to truly challenge the iPhone. We'll just have to wait and see once we can fully test the new Galaxy S25 devices. Until then, I'll be keeping my eye on further developments.

Samsung aims to turn its next generation of Galaxy smartphones into AI companions

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Samsung is injecting another dose of artificial intelligence into its next lineup of Galaxy smartphones, escalating an effort to simplify people's lives while deepening their dependence on a device that accompanies them almost everywhere. The three Galaxy S25 models unveiled Wednesday in San Jose, California, are the second generation to be designed for the AI age -- a craze that market-leading Apple joined last September with the release of the iPhone 16. Most of the hardware on the Galaxy S25 is mostly the same as last year's model, except for a faster chip and a more powerful ultrawide lens on the camera. In its next phase, Samsung is positioning the Galaxy S25 as an "AI companion" capable of pulling more requests out of conversations, learning people's routines, anticipating people's needs and performing more technological tricks, such as being able to remove unwanted sounds from videos or identifying the name of a song upon request. The AI on the new Galaxy phones has been designed to toggle from one app to another to fetch, summarize and manage information, entertainment and other content stored on the devices. In an attempt to make the technology even more indispensable, the AI on Galaxy S25 will be able to create customized digital dossiers on users' behavior patterns and other unique characteristics that Samsung is calling a "personal data engine." "Everything you see here is the beginning of a new reality," said TM Roh, the Samsung executive who oversees its smartphones. "Things that you thought you could never do, but now you can." As Apple has been doing with its AI features, Samsung is promising that its technology will shield users' privacy while also peering into their lives. Samsung is providing the protection primarily by keeping all the knowledge accrued by its AI technology on the Galaxy devices -- within a digital fortress the company nicknamed after Fort Knox, the Kentucky Army base seated next to the U.S. government's depository for gold. After raising prices last year, Samsung is standing pat with the Galaxy S25 phones, with the standard model starting at $800, the Plus model at $1,000 and the Ultra model at $1,300. The phones are scheduled to be in stores starting Feb. 7. Forrester Research analyst Thomas Husson thinks the Galaxy S25 models "will offer a more intuitive user experience with more integrated vocal and cross-app experiences, but AI is not yet a key reason to buy a new smartphone." Samsung is doubling down on its AI bet after getting a sales bump from the past year's emphasis on the technology. The South Korean company sold 32 million of its Galaxy S24 models from January through September last year, a 25% increase from the same time in the previous year, according to the research group Canalys. But Samsung didn't fare as well in the lower end of the smartphone market, where it was hurt by cheaper devices made by Chinese competitors. That's one of the reasons Samsung's total smartphone shipments fell by 1% last year, leaving it slightly behind Apple in the worldwide market, according to the research firm International Data Crop. As was the case with last year's models, the Galaxy S25 will draw heavily on AI technology made by Google, the maker of the free operating system Android that Samsung has long used for its smartphones. Some of the new AI tricks, such as the ability to deploy Google's "circle to search" technology to quickly identify the song title of music playing in a video, will debut on the Galaxy S25 before coming to other Android phones later this year. Google also has been planting more AI on its own phone, the Pixel, but that device still lags far behind the iPhone and Galaxy.

Samsung aims to turn its next generation of Galaxy smartphones into AI companions

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Samsung is injecting another dose of artificial intelligence into its next lineup of Galaxy smartphones, escalating an effort to simplify people's lives while deepening their dependence on a device that accompanies them almost everywhere. The three Galaxy S25 models unveiled Wednesday in San Jose, California, are the second generation to be designed for the AI age -- a craze that market-leading Apple joined last September with the release of the iPhone 16. Most of the hardware on the Galaxy S25 is mostly the same as last year's model, except for a faster chip and a more powerful ultrawide lens on the camera. In its next phase, Samsung is positioning the Galaxy S25 as an "AI companion" capable of pulling more requests out of conversations, learning people's routines, anticipating people's needs and performing more technological tricks, such as being able to remove unwanted sounds from videos or identifying the name of a song upon request. The AI on the new Galaxy phones has been designed to toggle from one app to another to fetch, summarize and manage information, entertainment and other content stored on the devices. In an attempt to make the technology even more indispensable, the AI on Galaxy S25 will be able to create customized digital dossiers on users' behavior patterns and other unique characteristics that Samsung is calling a "personal data engine." "Everything you see here is the beginning of a new reality," said TM Roh, the Samsung executive who oversees its smartphones. "Things that you thought you could never do, but now you can." As Apple has been doing with its AI features, Samsung is promising that its technology will shield users' privacy while also peering into their lives. Samsung is providing the protection primarily by keeping all the knowledge accrued by its AI technology on the Galaxy devices -- within a digital fortress the company nicknamed after Fort Knox, the Kentucky Army base seated next to the U.S. government's depository for gold. After raising prices last year, Samsung is standing pat with the Galaxy S25 phones, with the standard model starting at $800, the Plus model at $1,000 and the Ultra model at $1,300. The phones are scheduled to be in stores starting Feb. 7. Forrester Research analyst Thomas Husson thinks the Galaxy S25 models "will offer a more intuitive user experience with more integrated vocal and cross-app experiences, but AI is not yet a key reason to buy a new smartphone." Samsung is doubling down on its AI bet after getting a sales bump from the past year's emphasis on the technology. The South Korean company sold 32 million of its Galaxy S24 models from January through September last year, a 25% increase from the same time in the previous year, according to the research group Canalys. But Samsung didn't fare as well in the lower end of the smartphone market, where it was hurt by cheaper devices made by Chinese competitors. That's one of the reasons Samsung's total smartphone shipments fell by 1% last year, leaving it slightly behind Apple in the worldwide market, according to the research firm International Data Crop. As was the case with last year's models, the Galaxy S25 will draw heavily on AI technology made by Google, the maker of the free operating system Android that Samsung has long used for its smartphones. Some of the new AI tricks, such as the ability to deploy Google's "circle to search" technology to quickly identify the song title of music playing in a video, will debut on the Galaxy S25 before coming to other Android phones later this year. Google also has been planting more AI on its own phone, the Pixel, but that device still lags far behind the iPhone and Galaxy.

Samsung aims to turn its next generation of Galaxy smartphones into AI companions

Samsung is injecting another dose of artificial intelligence into its next lineup of Galaxy smartphones, escalating an effort to simplify people's lives while deepening their dependence on a device that accompanies them almost everywhere. The three Galaxy S25 models unveiled Wednesday in San Jose, California, are the second generation to be designed for the AI age - a craze that market-leading Apple joined last September with the release of the iPhone 16. Most of the hardware on the Galaxy S25 is mostly the same as last year's model, except for a faster chip and a more powerful ultrawide lens on the camera. In its next phase, Samsung is positioning the Galaxy S25 as an "AI companion" capable of pulling more requests out of conversations, learning people's routines, anticipating people's needs and performing more technological tricks, such as being able to remove unwanted sounds from videos or identifying the name of a song upon request. The AI on the new Galaxy phones has been designed to toggle from one app to another to fetch, summarize and manage information, entertainment and other content stored on the devices. In an attempt to make the technology even more indispensable, the AI on Galaxy S25 will be able to create customized digital dossiers on users' behavior patterns and other unique characteristics that Samsung is calling a "personal data engine." "Everything you see here is the beginning of a new reality," said TM Roh, the Samsung executive who oversees its smartphones. "Things that you thought you could never do, but now you can." As Apple has been doing with its AI features, Samsung is promising that its technology will shield users' privacy while also peering into their lives. Samsung is providing the protection primarily by keeping all the knowledge accrued by its AI technology on the Galaxy devices - within a digital fortress the company nicknamed after Fort Knox, the Kentucky Army base seated next to the U.S. government's depository for gold. After raising prices last year, Samsung is standing pat with the Galaxy S25 phones, with the standard model starting at $800, the Plus model at $1,000 and the Ultra model at $1,300. The phones are scheduled to be in stores starting Feb. 7. Forrester Research analyst Thomas Husson thinks the Galaxy S25 models "will offer a more intuitive user experience with more integrated vocal and cross-app experiences, but AI is not yet a key reason to buy a new smartphone." Samsung is doubling down on its AI bet after getting a sales bump from the past year's emphasis on the technology. The South Korean company sold 32 million of its Galaxy S24 models from January through September last year, a 25% increase from the same time in the previous year, according to the research group Canalys. But Samsung didn't fare as well in the lower end of the smartphone market, where it was hurt by cheaper devices made by Chinese competitors. That's one of the reasons Samsung's total smartphone shipments fell by 1% last year, leaving it slightly behind Apple in the worldwide market, according to the research firm International Data Crop. As was the case with last year's models, the Galaxy S25 will draw heavily on AI technology made by Google, the maker of the free operating system Android that Samsung has long used for its smartphones. Some of the new AI tricks, such as the ability to deploy Google's "circle to search" technology to quickly identify the song title of music playing in a video, will debut on the Galaxy S25 before coming to other Android phones later this year. Google also has been planting more AI on its own phone, the Pixel, but that device still lags far behind the iPhone and Galaxy.

Samsung unveils AI-powered S25 smartphones, teases slimmer Galaxy Edge

Image credit: Getty Images Samsung Electronics on Wednesday unveiled its newest Galaxy S25 smartphones, powered by Qualcomm's chips and Google's artificial-intelligence model, hoping its upgraded AI features can reinvigorate sales and fend off Apple and Chinese rivals. Samsung also previewed a thinner version of the flagship models at the end of an event in California, aiming to launch the Galaxy S25 Edge in the first half of this year ahead of Apple's anticipated rollout of its slimmer iPhone. Samsung was faster than Apple in launching an AI-powered smartphone but failed to regain its crown in the global smartphone market last year, squeezed by competition with the US rival in the premium market and with Chinese firms in the lower-end segment. "We are one step ahead of the industry in terms of offering AI features. I believe we are going in the right direction," Park Ji-sun, the executive vice president who leads Samsung's Language AI team, told Reuters. Samsung kept the prices of its Galaxy S25 series unchanged at between $799 and $1,299. The new Galaxy S25 uses Gemini offered by Alphabet's Google as its default AI engine, and features Samsung's upgraded in-house voice assistant, Bixby, Park said. The two tools complement each other, and Bixby plays a key role at Samsung, whose products span mobile phones to TVs and home appliances, he said. Thomas Husson, an analyst at Forrester, said that differentiating Bixby would be a challenge for Samsung. "I don't think there is really a killer application today that you know would convince them (consumers), 'OK, I'm going to buy this one because it's an AI smartphone,'" he said. Husson added, however, that AI features could create a halo effect around the Samsung brand. S25: more 'personalised' AI experience The Galaxy S25 will offer a more personalized AI experience. For example, its "Now Brief" service - which makes recommendations to users based on personalised data that is stored and processed on the phone for privacy reasons - will display a suite of customised items such as calendars, news and bedroom air temperature and carbon dioxide levels, Park said. The phone will be able to carry out multiple tasks with a single command, such as finding upcoming sporting events and then adding them to users' calendars. Samsung shares were down 1.1 per cent, lagging the wider market's 0.4 per cent loss. Samsung used Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform for the entire Galaxy S25 lineup, ditching its own mobile chip Exynos, a major change of strategy for a company that previously used both to have more bargaining power with suppliers. Using a Qualcomm chip is a setback to the South Korean firm's chip business, which counts its mobile division as one of its major customers. Samsung did not say why it decided not to use its own chips in the new model. A person familiar with the matter said Samsung is looking to use the Exynos chip in its foldable phones to be launched later this year. "The Galaxy S25 series' sale is important at a time when Samsung's foldable phone sales have been stagnating in the face of challenges from Chinese companies," Lim Su-jeong, associate director at research firm Counterpoint, said. Samsung's preliminary fourth-quarter profit, released earlier this month, missed estimates by a large margin due to chip development costs and rising competition in the smartphone market.

Samsung unveils new AI-powered smartphone in fight against Apple

Samsung is stepping up its push to grab a bigger share of the US smartphone market from Apple, as the South Korean tech giant launched its latest artificial intelligence-powered smartphone on Wednesday. The company unveiled the S25 at Samsung's annual "Unpacked" event in San Jose, California, marking its latest push to capitalise on its first-mover advantage over Apple, which has been slower to roll out generative AI features across iPhones. TM Roh, president of Samsung's mobile division, said the S25's new AI operating system, built on Google's Gemini large language models and chips from Qualcomm, would give it an advantage in the US smartphone market, where the iPhone maker dominates sales. "The AI ecosystem that we are developing with Google is very well-positioned in the US market," said Roh. It comes as both Samsung and Apple bet on AI technology to boost demand for their smartphones, following a year of relatively flat sales globally. Samsung launched its first AI smartphone, the S24, in January last year. Apple introduced initial AI features -- known as Apple Intelligence -- in October, followed by an integration of Siri with OpenAI's ChatGPT in December. Apple currently holds the largest share of the US smartphone market, at around 53 per cent of shipments in the quarter to the end of September, compared with Samsung's 23 per cent, according to Counterpoint Research. The launch comes at a critical point for Samsung, which has been hit by a series of failures at its semiconductor division. Its shares have slumped more than 30 per cent over the past six months, prompting the group to issue a rare apology in October for its poor performance. Samsung's decision to opt for Qualcomm application processors in the S25 instead of its own in-house Exynos series marks the latest setback for its chip division, which accounts for 60 per cent of operating profit. The company is also coming under pressure from Chinese rivals in the fast-growing segment for foldable phones. Roh said the S25 would help users move on from the era of touchscreens, where people use a suite of apps on a daily basis, to one dominated by an AI voice assistant that can carry out actions across the device on the user's behalf. Samsung said the S25 operating system offered faster responses to voice and text instructions, personalised to the user based on data stored locally on the device. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite chips are being used for the first time across all three models of the S25, bringing a 40 per cent performance boost for its neural processor, the "brain" powering AI, according to Samsung. WhatsApp and Spotify are among the first third-party apps to be able to interact with the revamped AI assistant. Roh said the aim was to build a large ecosystem of Android apps that Gemini can interact with. He added that the S25 would offer Google Gemini in 46 different languages. Apple, which uses a combination of its own LLMs and OpenAI's ChatGPT, has so far rolled out Apple Intelligence only in local variants of English, with more planned by April. But the extent to which generative AI will shake up the smartphone industry remains unclear, according to analysts. Technology analysis firm Canalys said on Monday that consumers were becoming more aware of the new features, which is good news for Samsung "given its global availability and first-mover advantage". But a December survey of consumers with AI-enabled smartphones by price comparison site SellCell found that a large majority of both Apple and Samsung users saw the initial features adding "little or no value".

Top Tech News: Samsung unveils AI, Robotics Startup & More

Here's a quick rundown of the biggest tech headlines making waves today. From the Samsung Galaxy S25 to BCG Hiring Graduates, let's dive into the top tech stories of the day. Samsung unveiled its Galaxy S25 series, powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon chips and Google's Gemini AI engine, aiming to boost sales amid stiff competition from Apple and Chinese brands. Priced between $799 and $1,299, the phones feature enhanced AI capabilities, including personalized recommendations via the "Now Brief" service and upgraded Bixby voice assistant integration. Samsung dropped its in-house Exynos chips for flagship models but may use them in upcoming foldable phones. Despite challenges in the premium and foldable segments, Samsung highlights its AI features to create a competitive edge. The Galaxy S25 Edge is set to launch later this year.

Samsung aims to turn its next generation of Galaxy smartphones into AI companions

SAN JOSE, California, USA (AP) -- Samsung is injecting another dose of artificial intelligence into its next lineup of Galaxy smartphones, escalating an effort to simplify people's lives while deepening their dependence on a device that accompanies them almost everywhere. The three Galaxy S25 models unveiled Wednesday in San Jose, California, are the second generation to be designed for the AI age -- a craze that market-leading Apple joined last September with the release of the iPhone 16. Most of the hardware on the Galaxy S25 is mostly the same as last year's model, except for a faster chip and a more powerful ultrawide lens on the camera. In its next phase, Samsung is positioning the Galaxy S25 as an "AI companion" capable of pulling more requests out of conversations, learning people's routines, anticipating people's needs and performing more technological tricks, such as being able to remove unwanted sounds from videos or identifying the name of a song upon request. The AI on the new Galaxy phones has been designed to toggle from one app to another to fetch, summarize and manage information, entertainment and other content stored on the devices. In an attempt to make the technology even more indispensable, the AI on Galaxy S25 will be able to create customised digital dossiers on users' behavior patterns and other unique characteristics that Samsung is calling a "personal data engine." "Everything you see here is the beginning of a new reality," said TM Roh, the Samsung executive who oversees its smartphones. "Things that you thought you could never do, but now you can." As Apple has been doing with its AI features, Samsung is promising that its technology will shield users' privacy while also peering into their lives. Samsung is providing the protection primarily by keeping all the knowledge accrued by its AI technology on the Galaxy devices -- within a digital fortress the company nicknamed after Fort Knox, the Kentucky Army base seated next to the US government's depository for gold. After raising prices last year, Samsung is standing pat with the Galaxy S25 phones, with the standard model starting at USD800, the Plus model at USD1,000 and the Ultra model at USD1,300. The phones are scheduled to be in stores starting Feb. 7. Forrester Research analyst Thomas Husson thinks the Galaxy S25 models "will offer a more intuitive user experience with more integrated vocal and cross-app experiences, but AI is not yet a key reason to buy a new smartphone." Samsung is doubling down on its AI bet after getting a sales bump from the past year's emphasis on the technology. The South Korean company sold 32 million of its Galaxy S24 models from January through September last year, a 25 per cent increase from the same time in the previous year, according to the research group Canalys. But Samsung didn't fare as well in the lower end of the smartphone market, where it was hurt by cheaper devices made by Chinese competitors. That's one of the reasons Samsung's total smartphone shipments fell by 1 per cent last year, leaving it slightly behind Apple in the worldwide market, according to the research firm International Data Crop. As was the case with last year's models, the Galaxy S25 will draw heavily on AI technology made by Google, the maker of the free operating system Android that Samsung has long used for its smartphones. Some of the new AI tricks, such as the ability to deploy Google's "circle to search" technology to quickly identify the song title of music playing in a video, will debut on the Galaxy S25 before coming to other Android phones later this year. Google also has been planting more AI on its own phone, the Pixel, but that device still lags far behind the iPhone and Galaxy.

Samsung launches S25 with boosted AI as Apple battle heats up

Last year, Apple began rolling out Apple Intelligence, its suite of AI features to iPhones. Device makers view AI as way to differentiate their hardware from the sea of competitors. Samsung, for example, is hoping the technology will help revive sales for its high-end product. "At a time when improvements to hardware capabilities and product design are largely incremental, Samsung is doubling down on its AI story. There are some clever enhancements included in the Galaxy S25 line-up, but it's unlikely they'll be enough to have consumers rushing out to upgrade their phones prematurely," Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, told CNBC. "However, this is far from being a unique issue for Samsung. Apple is facing the same challenges with the iPhone 16 and Apple Intelligence. AI is a boon for someone who needs an upgrade, but not enough to move the needle for consumers who have a relatively up-to-date phone already." Shipments of Samsung smartphones fell 2.7% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year as its market share contracted, according to International Data Corporation figures. Samsung was the number two player by shipment volume after Apple. Meanwhile, Chinese players Xiaomi, Transsion and Vivo increased market share, with aggressively-priced devices boasting solid specs. CCS Insight's Wood concluded that the S25 series is "well suited to the growing number of consumers who have a mobile phone that's three or four years old" but "it's unlikely to get people upgrading any sooner."

Galaxy S25 offers personalized AI assistant

Roh Tae-moon, president and head of Samsung Electronics' Mobile Experience division, introduces the Galaxy S25 series during an unveiling event at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday (local time). Courtesy of Samsung Electronics Samsung seeks to break through market stalemate with AIBy Nam Hyun-woo Samsung Electronics unveiled its new Galaxy S25 smartphone family during a Galaxy Unpacked event, Wednesday (local time), highlighting the smartphone's function as an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant. The latest smartphone bears extra significance not only for Samsung but also for other IT companies, as the Korean tech giant set AI experiences as the next breakthrough in the global smartphone market, which has been failing to provide innovations that can wow consumers for years. "Following its launch of the world's first AI-powered smartphone last year, Samsung Electronics has been making relentless efforts to innovate the mobile AI market," Roh Tae-moon, president and head of Samsung Electronics' Mobile Experience division, said during the event. "The newly unveiled Galaxy S25 series promises to deliver the most advanced and intuitive AI experience yet, and innovate the users' daily lives through its AI optimal One UI 7 platform." Seen above are the Galaxy S25 series. From left are the Galaxy S25 Ultra, S25 Plus and S25. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics The S25 family will be operating on the One UI 7 user interface, which is powered by multimodal AI to understand and analyze the user's natural language, context and intention to facilitate individualized AI experiences. One of the key improvements in the S25 series is that the phone can now execute complex tasks requiring multiple apps on a single voice command. For example, if a user wants to check the schedule of their favorite sports team and save it to the calendar, this previously required using multiple apps like search and calendar. However, the S25 series can execute this with a single voice command, such as, "Find the schedule for the team's games next week and add it to my calendar." Circle to Search, a function that was first introduced in the previous Galaxy S24 in collaboration with Google, was also upgraded. Previously, the function allowed users to search by drawing a circle on an image or text, but now it enables users to also search sounds that the phone is playing. Live Translate, which also first debuted in the previous S24 series, now supports 20 languages, enabling real-time communication without language barriers. Other updates include Call Transcript, which transcribes calls into texts, and Call Summary, which simplifies and summarizes key points from the conversation. Samsung Electronics will begin the global release of the Galaxy S25 series on Feb. 7. In Korea, preorders will be available from Jan. 24 to Feb. 3. For the Galaxy S25 series, Samsung has maintained the price range the same as the previous Galaxy S24 in Korea. The flagship S25 Ultra ranges between 1.7 million won ($1,184) to 2.25 million won, depending on memory and storage, while the S25 Plus are priced at between 1.35 million won to 1.5 million won. The cheapest model will be the S25 with 12 gigabytes of memory and 256 gigabytes of storage, which will be sold at 1.16 million won. The Galaxy S25 Ultra Titanium / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics Galaxy without Samsung's AP, memory As anticipated earlier, the Galaxy S25 will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite for the Galaxy application processor (AP), instead of Samsung's in-house Exynos 2500. An AP is a chipset that works as the brain of a smartphone, combining functions of central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU) and other core components like modem, memory controller and power management unit. Samsung said that compared to its predecessor, the Galaxy Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the latest AP shows respective increases of 37 percent and 30 percent in CPU and GPU performance, while showcasing a 40 percent improvement in neural processing unit. For memory, Micron's LPDDR5X DRAM was used instead of the company's in-house mobile DRAM. The previous Galaxy S24 standard model featured 8 gigabytes of memory, but all S25 devices will be equipped with 12 gigabytes to support AI functions. The S25 came as a signal showing that Samsung's smartphone and chip divisions are increasingly separating, due largely to questions lingering on the manufacturing yield of Samsung's APs and memory chips using advanced nanometer processes. Since using outside suppliers' components costs more than using in-house components, the S25 series' production is assumed to be more expensive than earlier models. Despite the higher production costs, Samsung has not raised prices for the S25 family, in a strategy to expand Galaxy smartphones' global market share while its main rival Apple struggles to expand its AI platform, Apple Intelligence. According to market tracker Counterpoint, Samsung ranked first in global smartphone market share last year with 19 percent, but suffered a 1 percentage point drop from the previous year. Apple followed in second place with an 18 percent market share. Meanwhile, Chinese firms expanded their presence even in the premium segment. Xiaomi was No. 3 with 14 percent, followed by Oppo and Vivo each with 8 percent.

Samsung unveils new AI phones in bid to beat Apple, Chinese rivals

STORY: Samsung has unveiled new AI smartphones in a bid to fend off Apple and Chinese rivals. The new Galaxy S25 models were launched at an event in California on Wednesday. They're powered by chips from U.S. firm Qualcomm. Company mobile experience chief TM Roh claimed they set a new standard in mobile innovation. And a lot is riding on the new devices being a success. Samsung's preliminary fourth-quarter profit - released earlier this month - missed analyst forecasts by a wide margin. Experts say the firm also faces flagging sales for its flagship foldable phones - once heralded as the next big thing for the sector. The new handsets use Google's Gemini AI system, and claim to offer more personalized service. Google Deepmind CEO Demis Hassabis appeared in a recorded video at the event: "We believe the next frontier for AI will be Agentic Systems, systems that are able to accomplish tasks and do useful things for you. And now we're so excited to be partnering with Samsung to bring some of its groundbreaking capabilities to the Gemini app." The question is whether AI services will really prompt consumers to buy new phones. Some industry watchers argue a really compelling new product is yet to appear. But Technalysis President Bob O'Donnell says Samsung has taken a step in the right direction: "So I thought today's event was great because what I saw today, to be honest with you, was kind of the first real working examples of AI stuff that I think normal people are going to want to use. There's been a lot of hype around AI and some of the things theoretically it could do, but I feel like today we started to get a hint at some stuff that regular people are going to want to use, and it will be truly impactful." Samsung touted features including its 'Now Brief' service, which can make personalized recommendations and display customized items ranging from calendars and news to bedroom temperatures. The South Korean giant kept the starting price of the phones unchanged at $799.

Samsung Banks on AI Expansion to Spur Demand for New S25 Phones

Samsung Electronics Co. is banking on an artificial intelligence overhaul and tweaked hardware designs to sell its new line of Galaxy S25 smartphones. The company launched three new devices at an event Wednesday in San Jose, California: the S25 starting at $799, a larger S25+ and the top-tier S25 Ultra priced from $1,299 and up. Spanning 6.9 inches in size, the new Ultra model gains the most significant design changes and camera hardware upgrades.

Samsung unveils new Galaxy S25 phones with better cameras, enhanced AI

Samsung is injecting another dose of artificial intelligence into its next lineup of Galaxy smartphones. Most of the hardware on the Galaxy S25 is mostly the same as last year's model, except for a faster chip and a more powerful ultra wide lens on its improved camera.