Samsung has figured out that the way to steal more market share from the fruity cargo-cult Apple is to focus on its chronic AI weakness.
Samsung is coming for the Jobs’ Mob with a pick-and-mix of AI partners. The Korean outfit wants fresh strategic deals with AI companies to cram a range of models into its smartphones and dent its rival’s grip on the market.
Samsung Electronics co-chief executive TM Roh said: “We got into the preparation earlier than others, [and] that is how we have taken and maintained leadership in mobile AI,” with Samsung pushing to widen its AI line-up beyond the usual suspects.
The company has already integrated the Perplexity AI search engine into its mobile operating system, with “Hey Plex” set as the wake-up phrase for its voice assistant. Roh reckons customers are stacking up different AI services instead of living in a single walled garden.
For those, like Apple, who came in very late, Jobs’ Mob has been slow to ship many of the AI tricks it showed off last year, leaving a gap for Samsung to fill with choice and noise. Samsung says that letting users bounce between models could help Galaxy stand out in a market that has run out of easy hardware wins.
Consumers are not bound to a single AI platform; they use multiple AI models and are open to all solutions. Choice, I believe, is how Galaxy AI appeals to consumers.”
The posturing shows where the next smartphone brawl is heading, with AI assistants and search tools pitched as the new reason to upgrade. Global handset sales have been flat, and the annual spec bump is not exactly thrilling anyone who has bought a phone in the past few years.
Counterpoint Research last week forecast global shipments will fall 12 per cent in 2026, the lowest annual volume since 2013. If that plays out, the industry is going to need more than a shinier camera bump to keep people spending.
Job’s Mob has been scrambling to update its “Apple Intelligence” suite, then cut a deal in January to use Google’s Gemini models. It has leaned on OpenAI’s ChatGPT for smarter search and writing functions, with a revamped Siri expected this year.
Samsung has decided it can charge more for the privilege, lifting US prices for its S26 range by $100 for two models, partly due to a memory chip supply crunch. Suppliers including SK Hynix, Micron and Samsung itself have prioritised high-bandwidth memory for AI data centres instead of the chips that end up in phones.
“A lot of this is affected by the current ongoing expansion of AI infrastructure,” Roh said, pointing the finger at the data centre gold rush that is hoovering up components.
