Business

Samsung leans into AI as it unveils new Galaxy phones

Smartphones will bring live translation and AI-generated transcripts

The Samsung Galaxy S24 smartphones feature a range of artificial intelligence features as the key to unlocking greater sales this year. Photograph: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Ciara O'Brien
Wed Jan 17 2024 - 20:40

Samsung has gone all-in on AI with its latest round of smartphones, using the technology for translating texts and calls, generating summaries of notes and improving photography.

The Galaxy S24 phones, which include the S24, S24+ and the S24 Ultra, will also harness the power of Google to bring AI search to the smartphones.

The company unveiled the new phones at its latest Unpacked event.

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Users will be able to translate calls in real time with Live Translate within the native phone app and using on-device AI for privacy. Samsung has also created Chat Assist to help users create the perfect social media caption or create professional work-related messages.

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The Samsung Keyboard is also getting the ability to translate messages, emails and more in real-time in 13 languages. The Interpreter feature, meanwhile, will translate live conversations on a split screen view to allow two people opposite each other to read the text transcription, a feature that will work without a mobile data or wifi connection.

Note Assist will create AI-generated summaries of your notes, while the Transcript Assist feature will use AI and speech-to-text technology to transcribe, summarise and translate voice recordings.

“We are thrilled to introduce the Galaxy S24 Series and lead the new era of mobile with Galaxy AI,” said James Kitto, vice-president, head of MX division, Samsung Electronics UK. “Our Galaxy S Series range has always been the trend-setter in providing premium mobile experiences, and we’ve taken this further with the Galaxy S24 – placing AI right into people’s hands and unleashing the power and potential of everyone that touches it.”

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Samsung is also bringing AI into its photography on the Galaxy S24 series, with the ProVisual Engine and enhanced imaging capabilities, including improved night photography. The Galaxy S24 Ultra will come with the Quad Tele System, a new 5x optical zoom lens and 50 megapixels.

The new Galaxy S24 devices will also have the latest Corning Gorilla Armor glass, which the company said will bring richer display in sunlight, reducing reflection by up to 75 per cent, and improve protection against daily wear and tear.

The launch comes following the news that Apple overtook Samsung to become the best-selling smartphone series over the course of 2023, the first time the Android maker has lost the top spot since 2010. The iPhone accounted for 20 per cent of the global market with close to 235 million shipments last year, research firm IDC estimates. Samsung, whose shipments slumped double-digits to 226.6 million, came in second, ahead of Chinese device makers like Xiaomi Corp. – Additional reporting: Reuters

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien is an Irish Times business and technology journalist

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