Samsung’s Galaxy AI Update Hints at the Possibility of Expanding the Features to More Devices

Samsung could expand its native artificial intelligence (AI) suite of features for its smartphones, Galaxy AI, to more devices. On Wednesday, the South Korean tech giant announced a new update to Galaxy AI that added support for new languages and dialects. In the same post, the company hinted that the suite of features could be introduced to more devices soon. This has led to speculation on whether these features can be brought to older devices such as the Galaxy S22 series.

This potential teaser by the company was first spotted by 9to5Google. Towards the end of the announcement post of increasing the number of supported languages for Galaxy AI, the company also listed the devices that currently support the AI features. The post stated, “The newly supported Galaxy AI languages and dialects will each be available for download as a language pack from the Settings app across all devices that support Galaxy AI. That includes the Galaxy S24 series, Galaxy S23 series, Galaxy S23 FE, Galaxy Z Flip5, and Galaxy Tab S9 series, with more coming soon.”

The reason for speculation is the last four words of the paragraph. So far, there has been confusion on whether the company was going to support devices older than the Galaxy S23 series for the AI features, given some of the features were offered on-device that required powerful hardware to carry out the processing. Last month, a report revealed that TM Roh, the President of Samsung's mobile division, said in a shareholders' meeting in Seoul, “Resources and efforts are being invested. We are gradually preparing plans to support a fully-fledged Galaxy AI experience [in the S22 series and older Samsung devices].”

However, other reports also highlighted that it might not be possible to bring these features to older devices given the hardware limitations. Although the post does not clarify whether it meant newer midrange Galaxy smartphones and Galaxy Books lineup, or older devices. One suggested way to support older devices is by making all the features on-server so the device does not have to bear the stress of managing the processing. Another method could be optimising these features for older devices. If this is done, users may not be able to experience the full experience of the feature but will still be able to use it in some form.

Adding Galaxy AI capabilities to a wider range of devices is also in the best interest of Samsung. At the time of launching the feature alongside the Galaxy S24 series, the company said that these features would be free to use until the end of 2025, and a subscription fee might be charged afterwards. If the suite of features reaches more users, the smartphone maker will stand to rake in more revenue through this service.