Samsung Electronics plans to quadruple the number of its mobile devices with AI capabilities powered by Google’s Gemini this year, according to the company’s co-CEO. As the global race for artificial intelligence heats up, this would give the American business an edge over rivals.
This year, Samsung plans to double the number of mobile devices running Google’s Gemini to 800 million
After integrating Gemini-backed AI features into about 400 million mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, by last year, the South Korean company plans to raise that figure to 800 million by 2026.
“We will apply AI to all products, all functions, and all services as quickly as possible,” T M Roh told Reuters in his first interview since becoming co-CEO of Samsung Electronics in November.
The action by the world’s largest supporter of Google’s Android mobile platform is anticipated to give the company’s developer, Google, a major boost as it competes with OpenAI and others to attract more users to its AI model.
Under Roh’s leadership, Samsung hopes to overtake Apple in the smartphone market and fend off competition from Chinese rivals in mobile phones, televisions, and home appliances.
Apple will offer integrated AI services across consumer devices to strengthen its advantage over the latter in such capabilities, even though market research firm Counterpoint predicted last year that Apple would be the leading smartphone manufacturer.
AI contests
The latest version of Gemini was released by Alphabet’s Google in November, highlighting Gemini 3’s superiority on several commonly used industry metrics for AI model performance.
In reaction to Gemini 3, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly issued an internal “code red,” stopping non-core projects and rerouting teams to speed up development. The GPT-5.2 AI model was released by the ChatGPT creator a few weeks later.
Roh believes that AI adoption will pick up speed because Samsung’s Galaxy AI brand recognition went from about 30% to 80% in just one year.
“These technologies will become more widespread within six months to a year, even though the AI technology might seem a bit doubtful right now,” he said.
Although search is the most widely used AI feature on phones, he claims that users frequently use a range of generative AI editing and productivity tools for photos and other content, as well as translation and summary capabilities.
“Not immune” to memory chip scarcity
Shortages of memory chips around the world help Samsung’s primary semiconductor business, but they also put pressure on smartphones, the company’s second-largest source of income.
“As this situation is unprecedented, no company is immune to its impact,” Roh said, pointing out that the problem affects not just mobile phones but also consumer devices like TVs and home appliances.
Samsung, the leading TV manufacturer in the world, is collaborating with partners on longer-term strategies to lessen the effects, but he would not rule out increasing product costs, saying that some harm was “inevitable” due to an increase in memory chip prices.
Market research firms like IDC and Counterpoint predict that the global smartphone market will shrink in 2019 due to the threat of memory chip shortages driving up phone prices.
The market for foldable phones, which Samsung created in 2019, has been growing more slowly than expected, according to Roh.
He claimed that this was due to the engineering complexity and the lack of applications suitable for the hardware design, but he predicted that the market would gain traction in the next two to three years.
He claimed that a “very high” proportion of foldable phone buyers select the same category for their next purchases, but he gave no details.
In the third quarter of 2025, Samsung controlled roughly two-thirds of the foldable smartphone market, according to Counterpoint.
But it faces competition from Chinese companies like Apple, which is expected to launch its first foldable phone this year, and Huawei.
One Comment