Without a doubt, 2024 is the year of AI for Samsung. Part marketing and part a real push to create better devices and a smarter IoT ecosystem, the AI strategy appears to be paying off. Samsung announced today that it sold more than 1.5 million AI-powered home appliances, i.e., consumer electronics, in Korea during the first six months of 2024.
What constitutes an AI-powered home appliance? Samsung says it counted TVs, monitors, audio products, fridges, dishwashers, cooking ranges, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, dehumidifiers, and vacuum cleaners.
Not every Samsung consumer electronics product has AI capabilities. The trend to implement AI took off earlier this year, but generally speaking, only the highest-end consumer electronics use advanced AI techniques.
Given this simple fact, Samsung's total consumer electronics sales in Korea this year exceed 1.5 million.
Koreans love robot vacuums and AI washing machines
Interestingly, Samsung says that over 90% of total sales recorded in Korea from May to the end of July were covered by washing machines and robot vacuum cleaners with AI capabilities.
The latest Jet Bot AI robot vacuums are impressively clever, as they can identify objects and even stain types and adjust various parameters based on what they've learned through AI systems. They're deeply integrated with the SmartThings mobile app and can even stream video directly to the user's Galaxy phone.
Another fun fact is that two-thirds of all the home appliances sold in Korea at physical Samsung stores during the May-July three-month period were AI-enabled. This statistic doesn't include offline sales, but in brick-and-mortar stores, there was a clear bias toward AI products.
Given this success in its home market, Samsung says it is looking forward to showcasing its 2024 range of AI-powered consumer electronics in Europe at IFA 2024 next month. IFA will be hosted in Germany between September 6-10.
Image Credit: Samsung