With the release of the Galaxy S24 series earlier this year, Samsung has become the best-known brand of Generative AI-capable smartphones. It is not the only player in the market, but industry watchers say Samsung and its three premium S24 phones took the podium in the first quarter of the year.
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra was the best-selling GenAI-capable phone in Q1 with a market share of 30.1%. The Ultra phone was followed by the base Galaxy S24 model with a 16.8% market share and the Galaxy S24+, which accounted for 16.8% of global GenAI-phone sales (via Counterpoint Research).
Other brands that have been selling smartphones with Generative AI capabilities are Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus, Honor, and Google. The latter brand and its Pixel 8 Pro captured the 10th spot in Q1 2024.
Smartphones capable of Generative AI accounted for 6% of global smartphone sales in Q1 2024. Samsung's arrival appears to have boosted the popularity of the GenAI smartphone niche from 1.3% in Q4 2023.
The GenAI smartphone market will continue to grow
Market watchers believe AI-capable phones will continue to grow in popularity throughout the year. They expect the GenAI smartphone segment to contribute 11% to the global phone market in 2024.
Apple is likely to enter the GenAI smartphone market later this year with its upcoming iPhone 16 series, and this will inevitably push some OEMs off the top 10 best-selling charts. Google appears to be the least safe from that outcome.
Whether Apple will beat Samsung to the top spot remains to be determined, but it's safe to say that the Korean tech giant will remain one of the biggest GenAI smartphone players, even after Apple's entry.
With Google's expertise in the field, Samsung has built a robust GenAI experience for its latest smartphones through Galaxy AI features like Circle to Search, Live Translate, Interpreter, Note Assist, Chat Assist, Generative Edit, Generative Wallpapers, and more.
Samsung will soon announce at least two new foldable phones at Unpacked in July, and both the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 are expected to be GenAI-capable. They may even improve upon the formula. According to a rumor, the One UI 6.1.1 update, which is expected to debut with the upcoming foldable phones, will innovate through video AI features.
The Korean tech giant is also planning to expand the reach of Galaxy AI to smartwatches and Samsung Health through the newly announced One UI 6 Watch update.
