Why Is Samsung AI Building Features Specific To China?

Samsung has remained the least market capturer of the Chinese smartphone consumer audience. Is it using AI to gain market traction?

Samsung is a South Korean tech giant that ranks just as high as the iPhone does worldwide. However, it has always remained in the underbelly of the Chinese smartphone market with less than 1% market share. The smartphone company has been building Artificial Intelligence capabilities known as the Galaxy AI, especially for the Chinese market in an effort to regain what the local players like Huawei have decimated over the last decade.

This strategy is a successor to the many failed strategies that Samsung has tested over the years in China. The new strategy primarily involves local partnerships with tech and internet companies. Due to strict regulations and a completely unique internet ecosystem in China, the smartphone maker remains in the underperforming zone owing to compliance risks.

“We are especially developing, and we are going to especially develop our Galaxy AI capabilities for that market. I believe by making efforts to create mobile AI for China, mobile AI that can satisfy that will be wanted by the Chinese consumers, by advancing this technology that will contribute to the recovery we’re going to have in the Chinese market,” said TM Roh, Head of Samsung’s mobile business.

This year, Baidu integrated its Ernie chatbot into the Samsung Galaxy S24 smartphones, Samsung’s latest introduction in the Android world. S24 and S24 Ultra are also exclusive smartphones that contain Galaxy AI technology at the OS level. 

Even Apple has not specified any plans to launch Apple Intelligence in China as it faces roadblocks similar to those of Samsung. Samsung has also adopted a new distribution and retail strategy for its premium smartphone segment. 

The real question lies in the fact that China boasts of the best Artificial Intelligence apps and technologies available to its smartphone consumers through local companies like Huawei, Xiaomi, and Honor. China remains a heated market, even for the world's top smartphone makers, with little scope for outside players to contribute.