AI will be no different.

Where AI Meets People

AI is getting smarter faster, and this will continue. But to change how people live, it must answer: where, how and into whose hands does this intelligence reach? This will define AI’s next chapter.

AI no longer merely answers. It is entering an agentic age, taking action on our behalf while the person carries the final decision. But to act for someone, it must first know them.

That is why it matters where AI meets people. The entry points are where AI understands a person and builds trust. The best AI experiences will come from the devices that know the user best.

This is what Samsung has spent years building. The phone is closest to us, with us daily. The tablet is where we create and learn. The watch reads signals like sleep and heart rate. The TV and connected home appliances add context from where we live. And new form factors, from foldables to intelligent eyewear, expand where AI meets us. Together, a fuller picture of a person’s needs forms.

These entry points are powerful together. Signals from across devices become timely assistance: sleep tracked by your watch shapes tomorrow’s schedule, with information always available. AI at its best works quietly in the background, bringing these moments into a cohesive experience. That is why we have spent years building an ecosystem not just to reach, but to connect more moments.

Built on Openness and Trust

Samsung does not do this alone. The platforms that changed the world were the most open. The web was. So were mobile operating systems. With SmartThings, we brought devices, services and partners into one connected experience, shaping industry open standards. Openness lets the best ideas reach people faster. And we don’t simply layer intelligence on top, but design how AI works at the center so it serves each person in context.

But openness alone is not the goal. The harder task is turning intelligence into something personal and trustworthy. The best intelligence in the world should reach people through their everyday devices. But what makes it personal is understanding the user and keeping that understanding safe. That is our responsibility.

As AI becomes more personal and agentic, trust becomes the foundation. People need to know what AI is doing for them and remain in control.

This is why trust isn’t added at the end. Samsung Knox protects each Galaxy device and now the connections between them. As intelligence moves across devices, protecting what flows between them is crucial. The most personal data stays on the device so people can understand how AI is working and remain in control.

The Next Chapter of Galaxy

That same understanding shapes the devices we build. The more personal and capable AI becomes, the more form matters. As AI helps us with more at once, a screen that flexes and folds expands what is possible. This is what makes foldables special: they fold into your hand or open a larger stage. On this journey, Samsung has continued to make foldables thinner, lighter, stronger and more immersive.

AI is also essential in health. How we sleep, recover and look after ourselves — daily choices add up. A device close to us, like a watch, tracks these signals ensuring a better day.

The upcoming Galaxy Unpacked is where we will show what’s next in bringing all this together: more personal, natural AI experiences on a foundation more partners can build on. The question that opens the next era is not who has the smartest AI, but who understands people best, and turns that understanding into experiences they can trust.

We intend to take this path with openness and responsibility, beginning with the device already in your hand. We open this next chapter together at Galaxy Unpacked.

Africa, 15 January 2019 – In light of modest global sales recently, some observers say that smartphone innovation has hit a bottleneck, as new devices bear more iterative upgrades instead of groundbreaking features. Others even predict that the smartphone era may be coming to an end soon.

But with mobile technologies like 5G, AI, and AR maturing rapidly, users will be able to do even more with their smartphones soon. Instead of losing relevance, the next wave of technological innovation will make the smartphone more central to our lives than ever before. Whether it’s leveraging increased connectivity or harnessing next-generation mobile intelligence, a larger display will be key to accessing future smartphone experiences.

Despite current trends, we are still living in a world where the size of the smartphone display can only be as large as the device itself. At Samsung, we began to ask ourselves how we can overcome this limitation and expand the possibilities of what users can accomplish on the go.

The Shape of Things to Come

Smartphone displays can’t get any larger without compromising portability – this was the orthodoxy for a long time.

Instead of accepting the status quo, resolving the contradiction between screen size and portability and developing a new form factor became the central focus of our innovation efforts.

The recent unveiling of the Infinity Flex Display at SDC 2018 signaled the start of this new chapter. But building a foldable device was no mean feat. After the prototypes of the flexible display debuted at CES in 2011, it took another seven years to perfect the technology and deliver a truly meaningful experience to users. From developing new materials to overcoming mechanical challenges, the foldable screen demanded a total reconfiguration of the smartphone from inside out.

Preparing for the New Era

We expect to see a sea change in the smartphone form factor in the coming years. From rollable and stretchable devices to the devices that can fold in multiple ways are no longer beyond the realms of reality. Samsung is ready to usher in this future and create meaningful experiences for consumers that help them do more of what they love.

To build the new foldable device, we made significant investments to create a new material that completely changes the anatomy of the smartphone display. We also created a natural and durable folding experience that users can appreciate from the very first time they unfold the device and crafted an innovative mechanical technology that can withstand hundreds of thousands of folds. We also had to rethink the placements of the battery, cooling system, and camera so that they can be placed inside the slim body efficiently. Last but not least, we developed an intuitive UX to ensure apps can transition seamlessly between the smaller and larger displays. We are committed to continue pushing the limits of possibility and lead the mobile industry into a new era.

Smartphone innovation is at the cusp of the next major transformation. The arrival of the Infinity Flex Display is just the beginning. We will continue pushing the limits of possibility and shape the future as it unfolds.