Q&A with TM Roh, President & Head of MX Business, Samsung Electronics: Marking A New Dawn of Mobile AI with Samsung Galaxy S24 Series

Earlier this year, Samsung introduced the Samsung Galaxy S24 Series, unleashing a raft of transformational Galaxy AI capabilities, while setting a new direction for the smartphone industry.

During a visit to Singapore, TM Roh, President & Head of MX Business, Samsung Electronics, shared some insights into the big picture of how Samsung is viewing AI, and how the Samsung Galaxy S24 Series marks the first of many steps into an AI-first mobile future. Read on to find out more.

Q: What does AI mean to you, and to Samsung?

A: Simply put, AI is revolutionizing the world, and will be the key to unlocking smarter and better experiences that will redefine our everyday lives. Taking the view from a commercial standpoint, businesses and organizations are already looking to AI to drive everything from further productivity gains to innovating new business models and ways to provide customers with better support and experiences. At the same time, we are seeing governments worldwide invest into nurturing talent, promoting a thriving AI industry, and sustaining it with world-leading infrastructure and research.

The new Galaxy S24 series includes the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24.
(Pictured from right to left)

As our first AI phone which will lead the mobile AI Era, the new Galaxy S24 series is a bold step that we have taken to put real and meaningful advances in AI-powered mobile experiences into the hands of consumers all around the world.

Q: Tell us more about what Samsung has been doing with AI.

A: AI as a technology isn’t new, but it has only really started gaining traction in recent years as both public and industry interest in use cases such as Generative AI started to snowball. We have had our eye on this evolving trend for some time; in fact, we’ve been working hard at including AI-powered functionality in our mobile devices for years now.

Since 2017, the Samsung AI Research Center (SAIC) has been driving the development of leading AI technologies and AI core platforms for existing Samsung products and services, while also collaborating with various partners to combine generative AI models and with a lightweight design to suit mobile device use cases. The Galaxy S24 series is the culmination of years of effort and collaboration with partners and other industry leaders. At the heart of the Galaxy S24 is Galaxy AI, which is the result of our work to combine and optimize various AI models for the smartphone, in collaboration with industry leaders.

Q: What is it about the Galaxy S24 that makes it the ideal vehicle as the flagship for Samsung’s first foray into mobile-AI experiences?

A: Just as how the smartphone has proven to be an essential part of our every day, adding convenience and ease to how we communicate, how we get things done, and how to live better lives, our ethos at Samsung is to ensure that there must be practical benefits to embedding AI functionality into the smartphone.

Generate summaries with Notes Assist on the Galaxy S24 Ultra

Galaxy AI features such as Live Translate and Interpreter use on-device AI functions to help tear down the barriers to communications and enable more meaningful conversations between one another, even if one cannot speak the other’s language. The summary function of Note Assist for example, lets users quickly create AI-generated summaries for later reference and study, while Transcript Assist helps get the busy work of transcribing, summarizing, and translating recordings out of the way, so our users can spend more time on more important tasks.

The result are smartphones like the Galaxy S24 series which deliver truly meaningful usability and tangible benefits for all our users. This is the beginning of the future of mobile AI.

Q: How will Galaxy S24 set the stage for Samsung to better compete against the competition?

A: We see Galaxy AI as a key enabler for new user experience paradigms, especially when it comes to the tools that empower creative expression, productivity, and barrier-free communications.

Delivering experiences that not only bring value to the end user, but to also elevate their everyday activities in new and more meaningful ways, is extremely important to us. Galaxy AI will be key in powering these innovations that turn possibilities into reality.

Q: How have Galaxy fans in Southeast Asia and Oceania (SEAO) reacted so far to the Galaxy S24 series?

A: This year, we are both humbled and elated at the market response and the feedback from our fans and consumers so far for the Galaxy S24 series. We are already seeing very positive sales results of our latest flagship series in the SEAO region, and hope the trend continues.

Market research shows that Southeast Asia is one of the fastest-growing markets for premium smartphones and is expected to grow by more than double digits this year. We see great opportunity for growth in this category and look forward to further increasing our presence in the Southeast Asian market.

Q: Finally, can you share with us your vision for an AI-first mobile future?

A: Samsung’s mobile strategy going forward, clearly, is one that will be led by Galaxy AI. Starting with the Galaxy S24 series, we want to set the global standard and to lead the industry in the mobile AI era, by creating new demand with an unrivaled Galaxy AI experience.

We want to continue taking the lead in developing optimized mobile AI experiences for every mobile device form factor and user, through our unique position as an industry leader, as well as in the spirit of open collaboration with our partners.