Galaxy AI is coming to even fewer Samsung phones than we thought

With the unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S24 series last week, artificial intelligence has somehow become an even bigger talking point in smartphones. Samsung even went so far as to call them “AI phones” instead of smartphones. Some of the new features in the Galaxy AI suite are really interesting, and the Korean giant was quick to confirm that the feature set would be made available to older devices as well. However, it turns out that the final list of eligible devices will be much smaller than we thought and also has some notable omissions.

At its Unpacked 2024 event earlier this month, Samsung announced the Galaxy S24 smartphone trio. Much of the keynote presentation was dedicated to the new intelligent software features, which will now be called Galaxy AI. They include Circle to Search, Live Translate, Note Assist, Photo Assist and more. And since the phones promise seven years of software updates, we expect the list to grow in the future.

During the launch, it was also confirmed that some older devices will receive Galaxy AI functionality via software updates, such as the S23 series, S23 FE, Z Flip 5, Z Fold 5 and Tab S9 – during the first half of this year. . Turns out this was an exhaustive list and the S22 series won’t get the benefits of Galaxy AI. In a conversation with TechRadar, Patrick Chomet, Samsung’s head of customer experience, revealed that none of the devices launched in 2022 will be held back, stating that they want to “guarantee the quality and performance of what we deploy” . Then we’ll learn how people use (these features) and tune the performance.

This could be a blow, as the Samsung Galaxy S22 isn’t even two years old at this point and uses the same Exynos 2200 chipset as the S23 FE. The spokesperson used phrases like “for now” to justify the decision, but we didn’t hold our breath. For eligible models, we expect the One UI 6.1 update to bring Galaxy AI features.

It’s also worth noting that the Samsung Galaxy S24’s AI features are only free until the end of 2025, after which they will require some sort of subscription. Details such as pricing haven’t been shared yet, but third-party features like Google’s Circle to Search may remain free for longer. Google is doing something similar with the Pixel 8 series, with the flagship Magic Editor feature, among others, requiring a Google One subscription.

Related

Samsung Galaxy S24 AI features are only free until the end of 2025

Samsung did not reveal the price afterwards

This may be a first look at how smartphone makers want to create additional revenue streams in the future, by locking certain features and capabilities behind a paywall. While Samsung and Google are first to jump on the bandwagon, others, like OnePlus, are taking a slightly different approach with their flagships.