Samsung declares its latest smartphone marks a new dawn for mobile AI, but the reality doesn’t quite match the hype

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Samsung yesterday unveiled its new line of Galaxy smartphones, a release it hyped would usher in a new era of mobile AI. Tapping Google’s Gemini models as well as models Samsung itself created, the phones’ AI features include fairly impressive on-device translation for both calls and texts, but also a lot of what we’ve already seen in the new generative AI landscape: The ability to create a transcript from a voice memo, automatically summarize a meeting, organize notes, and so on.

“Samsung has announced its new range of AI-powered Galaxy S24 flagship smartphones claiming a new era for mobile is opening up. Really? Well, not quite yet,” said Forrester VP principal analyst Thomas Husson in a note shared with Eye on AI after the event. Daishin Securities analyst Park Kang-ho similarly told the Financial Times, “I don’t think the added AI features are compelling enough.”

The most notable new feature is undoubtedly “Circle to Search,” which lets users search Google for more information about anything from within any app by simply circling it on their screen. In an on-stage demo, Google VP of Search Cathy Edwards showed how this could be used to search for a clothing item that catches your eye in an Instagram post. In another scenario, she received a text from a friend asking for thrift store recommendations in a particular location and simply circled the message to get instant search results overlaid directly within the text app—no typing or switching apps required.

“You probably come across things in your apps all the time that you want to learn more about when you're immersed in a moment of discovery. It can feel disruptive to stop what you're doing and switch to another app to learn more. So today we're introducing a solution,” Edwards said, though it should be noted that the ability to search without apps doesn’t mean the search results are going to be any good. This capability is obviously a huge commerce opportunity and a potential driver for Google’s ad business, and if the results include ads, it “could quickly end up being more frustrating than efficient,” as Wired noted.

Either way, Circle to Search hardly seems like a killer AI app, and it’s safe to say Samsung didn’t transform the smartphone into an AI-first device with this launch. It could, however, be laying the foundation for a new, more centralized way of interacting with smartphones that doesn’t hinge on jumping from app to app. It begs the question of what this means for all the companies that exist only as apps on our phones. It also leaves unanswered the question of how much the smartphone in its current form can be reoriented to fully embrace AI and what other kinds of devices could be next.

AI obviously took center stage at the Consumer Elections Show (CES), which was held last week in Las Vegas and offered the first large-scale showing of AI-centered consumer hardware since OpenAI fired the AI starting gun in November 2022. One of the breakout devices of the show was the Rabbit R1, a pocket-sized virtual AI assistant. It has no screen or apps, and while it can’t fully replace our smartphones, it is meant to take over a variety of tasks we perform on them, from calling an Uber to making a dinner reservation on OpenTable.

While not too dissimilar from Humane’s AI Pin—the much pricier screen-less, app-less wearable for interacting with LLMs that was met with heavy skepticism—the Rabbit R1 garnered a lot of positive interest, landing on several “best of CES”-type lists. We also know it’s not only under-the-radar startups that are chipping away at creating entirely new classes of devices. All eyes are on Apple, which will not only release a new, likely AI-featured iPhone in nine or so months but is also moving steadily into “spatial computing” (the fancy new buzzword for what used to be called augmented and virtual reality). Apple has a glowing track record of pioneering new devices, including the iPhone itself.

There’s no question Samsung was a bit overzealous in its declaration that its latest smartphones are a “eureka moment” for mobile AI. Maybe a future smartphone will deliver on this promise, or maybe it will require another device altogether.

And with that, here’s more AI news, and also, a new section—Eye on AI Numbers—that will offer a quick take on a key figure, stat, or numerical fact pertaining to AI news. It's one of, ahem, a number of new sections we will be experimenting with in Eye on AI over the coming weeks. Let us know what you think!

Sage Lazzaro
sage.lazzaro@consultant.fortune.com
sagelazzaro.com

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com