Samsung Unveils New AI-Powered Galaxy S25

On Wednesday, Samsung Electronics unveiled its latest Galaxy S25 smartphones, featuring Qualcomm’s latest chips alongside Google’s artificial intelligence model. This strategic move aims to boost sales and help the tech giant compete more effectively against both Apple and its Chinese rivals.

During an event in California, Samsung previewed a thinner version of its flagship models, signaling plans to launch the Galaxy S25 Edge in the first half of this year, ideally timed before the anticipated rollout of a slimmer iPhone by Apple.

Despite being ahead of Apple in launching an AI-powered smartphone, Samsung struggled to regain its leadership in the global smartphone market last year. The company faced intense competition not only from Apple within the premium segment but also from Chinese manufacturers in the lower-end market.

Executive Vice President Park Ji-sun, who leads Samsung’s Language AI team, expressed confidence in their advancements: “We are one step ahead of the industry in terms of offering AI features. I believe we are going in the right direction,” he told Reuters.

The Galaxy S25 leverages Gemini, provided by Alphabet’s Google, as its default AI engine, and integrates Samsung’s enhanced voice assistant, Bixby. Park explained that these tools complement each other, emphasizing Bixby’s significant role within Samsung’s diverse product ecosystem, which extends beyond smartphones to include TVs and home appliances.

The new device promises a more personalized AI experience, with its “Now Brief” service recommending items tailored to the user’s preferences. This feature processes personalized data on the phone to ensure privacy while providing details such as calendars, news, and even environmental factors like room temperature and carbon dioxide levels.

Additionally, Samsung has equipped the Galaxy S25 to handle multiple tasks with a single command, enhancing convenience for users—for instance, finding upcoming sporting events and automatically adding them to their calendars.

Despite these ambitious innovations, Samsung’s stock fell by 1.1%, underperforming compared to the broader market’s 0.4% losses. Notably, Samsung has opted to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform for its entire Galaxy S25 lineup, moving away from its previously employed Exynos chip. This strategic shift marks a significant change, as the company traditionally utilized both to maintain negotiation leverage with suppliers.

This decision to utilize Qualcomm chips represents a setback for Samsung’s semiconductor business, which regards its mobile division as a major customer. Reasons for this shift were not disclosed by Samsung, although it is reported that the company plans to reintegrate the Exynos chip in forthcoming foldable models later this year.

According to Lim Su-jeong, an associate director at research firm Counterpoint, the success of the Galaxy S25 series is critical at a time when sales of Samsung’s foldable phones are stagnating due to competitive pressures from Chinese manufacturers. Earlier this month, preliminary fourth-quarter profit figures from Samsung revealed a significant miss in estimates, attributed to escalating chip development costs and growing competition in the smartphone market.