Samsung has introduced a new generation of Galaxy S25 series smartphones putting artificial intelligence at the forefront of the device’s operating system, testing consumers’ appetite for AI tools on mobile devices. The South Korean tech giant has a lot riding on the new Galaxy S25 and hopes that users are enticed to buy the latest models, attracted by new AI powers.
At its Unpacked event on Wednesday in San Jose, California, Samsung introduced the revamped Galaxy AI, which combines AI tools based on Gemini technology from Alphabet Inc.’s Google and its own proprietary tech. The new system demonstrates how AI can act as an agent, helping users perform tasks automatically and reducing the number of steps that would normally take more time. For example, pressing the side button on the Galaxy S25 Ultra activates Google’s Gemini, and if you say, “Find me flight details from San Francisco to Seoul for January 22 and send them to Toni,” the AI will find the available flight options and email them to that person.
In another example of how AI agents work, a Samsung executive opened an Unpacked invite, and selected a paragraph containing the date and time of the event using the AI Select feature from the swipe panel. The AI detected the context of the paragraph (for example, the date and time) and added it to the Samsung Calendar with a single command.
The company also added a host of new AI features to its mainline Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra smartphones, showcasing how it is integrating AI more deeply into the operating system — from searching content to so-called agents that perform tasks — making the mobile experience more natural and intuitive. The devices can live-translate phone calls, transcribe voice recordings, summarise web articles, fix handwriting, use generative AI to fill in parts of photos, find an old photo using your voice, and even fix audio in the video. Samsung also added a brand new feature called Now Brief, which proactively offers suggestions accessible via Now Bar on the lock screen. The company said the seamless interaction works across Samsung and Google apps, as well as third-party apps such as Spotify and WhatsApp.
Samsung said the system-wide AI will learn from user behaviour and make the experience more personalised with time, and AI agents with multimodal capabilities allow the Galaxy S25 to interpret text, speech, images and videos for interactions, opening a new way to experience smartphones.
The push around Galaxy AI is part of Samsung’s larger plan to differentiate its smartphones in a crowded market and generate excitement at a time when smartphone innovation appears to have plateaued. The new Galaxy AI experience, which is part of the One UI 7 interface and will be available on the Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra, takes a page from Apple’s playbook by integrating AI more deeply within the apps people use every day and embedding it into the core of the operating system. However, Samsung takes a slightly different approach to how it plans to execute AI, and analysts say the company’s aggressive push to go all-in on mobile AI may be followed by every smartphone maker this year.
The Galaxy S series drives volumes for Samsung in the premium segment. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)
The new Galaxy S25 smartphones may not look drastically different from last year’s model, and while they feature improved hardware to support AI, as well as better build quality, cameras, and screens, the lineup represents more of an iterative upgrade. The 6.9-inch Galaxy S25 Ultra, along with the 6.2-inch Galaxy S25 and the 6.7-inch Galaxy S25+, are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite, designed for generative AI. Samsung is promising seven generations of operating system upgrades and seven years of security updates. Pre-orders begin Wednesday.
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“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 lineup,” Ben Wood, Chief Analyst, CCS Insight, told indianexpress.com.
However, Wood said that Samsung, like Apple or any other large smartphone maker, faces the challenge of convincing users to upgrade to newer phones, especially when people already have a relatively up-to-date phone.
Although AI on smartphones is not new, Samsung’s AI story is important, primarily because of the scale and reach the company has, as well as the popularity of its Galaxy S series in the high-end market.
“The Galaxy S25 Series is extremely important to Samsung. It provides the company’s flagship smartphone offering, going head-to-head with Apple’s iPhone and rival Android smartphones. The new phones come at a time when many consumers are gravitating towards more premium models as they expect to keep them for longer than ever before. Maximising margin on this product tier will be critical to Samsung’s bottom line,” Wood said.
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If Samsung manages to convince consumers that AI is a game-changer and enhances the user experience, the market will follow, giving the company an edge over the competition. For Wood, Samsung’s lead in mobile AI is critical for the company to maintain its top rank in smartphone sales in both mature markets and emerging markets like India, at a time when it faces stiff competition from Apple, Google Pixel, and Chinese manufacturers.
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