There seems to be a fairly large elephant in the smartphone industry room at this time. The tastes of Samsung, Apple and Google are invested strongly in the development (and marketing) of AI software, but consumers seem less than interested in a technology that has not yet shown that the game for their daily lives has been shown.
At least, that is the impression we receive from readers’ comments, and a recent survey of more than 2,000 iPhone and Samsung Galaxy users discovered that 73% of Iphone owners and an enormous 87% of respondents who proposed to Galaxy feel that AI adds little or no value to the experience of their smartphone. That must be a difficult reading for technology executives that collectively bet on hundreds of billions in the future.
Of course, adoption takes time, and Samsung, meanwhile, is committed to the long game. In MWC 2025, I spoke with Annika Bizon, vice president of mobile products (MX) of products and marketing in Samsung UK, who talked about the “number one objective” of the company with Galaxy AI, and whose adoption figures they paint a more optimistic image.
“Last year we launch Galaxy AI to the market, and now we have more than 5 million people who use it regularly in the United Kingdom. He took that figure for the Internet eight years, “said Bizon.” Once you start using something, it becomes a behavior and our work is to change behavior, so that people can see the benefits. “
“Now,” Bizon continued, “you can only change the behavior if people see a benefit. Then [that’s the] Objective number one. The second thing for us: Galaxy AI is our message from heroes because we want to possess that space and provide credibility to that space. But we also need to demystify it, right? Because AI means a million things. Look around today [at MWC]. What we are saying is: ai facilitates the mundane. It makes you more creative, giving you the return time to do the things you love. However, you cannot forget that people buy a camera phone, battery life, durability. Those are principles that will be located under each product that we contribute to the market. ”
It is clear, then, that Samsung has not forgotten the importance of hardware for consumers, despite the vertiginous amount of ads related to the Galaxy AI that I have probably seen during the past year. AI is Samsung’s “hero message”, but it is a matter of synergy, not prioritization.
“If you think of hardware and software, they work together,” Bizon told me. “The AI optimizes the battery of your phone, AI optimizes the camera on your phone: it can always iterate through the hardware, but when it begins to add to that, it really takes all the experience to another level.
“[Our customers are using AI] Because you are making your life easier, whether it is a circle to search, the live interpreter or the fact that I can book a restaurant through my voice and send an invitation directly to my friend’s calendar. That is about saving time. If you save time and you have the best hardware [working alongside] The best software really begins to change the customer experience. And that is the important thing. Work in a way where technology works for you instead of working for technology. Ai is the space where we see all our [technology] Gathering, it’s like a pa in your pocket. “
Democratization is key to adoption
Where the AI based on smartphones was the reserve of the best phones only one year ago, companies have now revolved to offer in almost every step of the price staircase.
Google, for example, offers the same functions of AI in the Google Pixel 8a friendly to the budget, as it does in the Premium Google Pixel 9 Pro, while Apple recently debuted the iPhone 16E compatible with Apple intelligence, which reduces the cost of entry to its set of AI functions. Eliminating the exclusivity of AI will allow these companies to refine and test their characteristics in a way that is simply not possible with a limited sample size, and Samsung, in their credit, realized this before the majority.
After launching Galaxy AI in January 2024 in the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung launched the same characteristics to the Galaxy S23 series only two months later. The compatibility of Galaxy AI now covers everything, from the Samsung Galaxy S25 ultra high -end to the Galaxy A55 of medium range.
We have more than 5 million people who use Galaxy AI regularly in the United Kingdom.
Annika Bizon, Samsung
“AI for all is really important for us,” Bizon explained. “Everyone has the opportunity to use AI. Personally, I am very proud of the fact that we take the step last year to take [Galaxy AI] In previous generation devices, there are more than 200 million devices worldwide, and we gave people the opportunity to experience it. You can only get adoption when you have a massive market to do it. “
In addition, the figures behind the AI are not bad. The results of the survey mentioned above reflect the current feeling of the AI based on smartphones, but recent research conducted by the Techradar Future editor suggests that people are increasingly changing traditional search engines for ia tools such as Chatgpt.
Consumption habits are Changing, and although Galaxy AI may seem a trick now, it will not spend much time before millions of smartphone users are really using their voices to make restaurant reservations. Consider this: cars, laptops and cheese hamburgers were perceived as silly fashions when they originally reached the market. Now they are crucial for the global economy.
