After years of Microsoft offering ARM support for its Windows operating system, CPU and PC manufacturers have finally started taking the advantages of the ARM instruction set seriously. Qualcomm announced the ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite chip for laptops earlier this year, and in mid-July, Samsung released its first ARM-based laptop powered by Qualcomm's solution.
The so-called Galaxy Book 4 Edge looks pretty good and should've been a celebration, but I'm a little annoyed seeing how Samsung keeps screwing things up.
Don't get me wrong. I'm a big Samsung fan who still enjoys using smart devices nearly every day, from Galaxy phones to smart TVs. I appreciate many of the company's efforts to unify its ecosystem, and I plan on expanding my own Samsung device portfolio with more device types and experiences.
I really think there is a lot to like about Samsung products, but I can't deny there are at least two things about the company that I'm bothered by and can't ignore. Incidentally, the Galaxy Book 4 Edge's debut perfectly encapsulated both problems: Exaggerated claims and confusing spec sheets.
No, Samsung, the Snapdragon X Elite wasn't built for Galaxy AI!
My first problem with Samsung is that, sometimes, the company doesn't know when to stop whenever it has a good thing on its hands. It sometimes pushes things too far, to the point where it can come across as disingenuous.
The overuse of Galaxy AI as a buzzword is the perfect example. It all started well at the beginning of the year when Galaxy AI became official along with the Galaxy S24 smartphone series.
Editor's Note: In case Galaxy AI still needs an explanation, this is a blanket term Samsung uses to describe a series of AI-powered tools the company believes in. Most of these tools use Google technologies as a foundation, but they work pretty well for what they are, and many people like them.
For the most part, Samsung has been relatively restrained, or at least it hasn't been disingenuous when it promoted Galaxy AI throughout the year. But then came the Galaxy Book 4 Edge. Samsung made a huge fuss about how this ARM-based laptop is all about Galaxy AI and even went as far as saying that the Snapdragon X Elite was built for Galaxy AI. Check out this screenshot from the laptop's landing page on the Samsung e-shop.
“Built for Galaxy AI, this chipset [Snapdragon X Elite] transforms how you create, communicate, and play […]” I think not! There is too much wrong with this statement.
First of all, the Snapdragon X Elite (or its NPU) wasn't built for Galaxy AI. Furthermore, the Galaxy Book 4 Edge and Galaxy AI have almost nothing in common. There are no Galaxy AI features running natively on the Galaxy Book 4 Edge, and saying that the Snapdragon X Elite chip was built for Galaxy AI goes a few steps too far, in my book. It's untrue and just doesn't make any sense.
In other marketing claims, Samsung keeps insisting that the Galaxy Book 4 Edge boasts Circle to Search, but there's a huge caveat. You can only experience Circle to Search and other Galaxy AI tools on the Galaxy Book 4 Edge by mirroring your phone's screen to your laptop using Link to Windows. And that's nothing special.
In other words, none of the Galaxy AI tools used through Link to Windows actually run on the Galaxy Book 4 Edge. They run on the phone, and without it, there would be no trace of Galaxy AI on the Book 4 Edge whatsoever. Saying that the X Elite's NPU (Neural Processing Unit) has anything to do with the Galaxy AI suite from your phone just doesn't sit right with me.
And that's the core of the problem. When Samsung has something good on its hands, like Galaxy AI, sometimes it doesn't know when to stop pushing it. Galaxy AI is the new buzzword, and it is a cool toolset. I understand why Samsung wants to promote it. But by going too far and slapping “Galaxy AI” on the Galaxy Book 4 Edge for no good reason only devalues both the laptop and the AI suite.
Bonus tip: If you want to use something like Circle to Search on the Galaxy Book 4 Edge, just open the Chrome browser and click the Google Lens button on the URL bar. They're the same fundamental tech.
Get your official spec sheets in order, please
The second problem with Samsung is that the company will often mess up its spec sheets, and it did so in spades with the Galaxy Book 4 Edge and many devices before it. If you're like me and have covered or at least followed new Samsung product launches for years, you most likely know what I'm talking about.
But if you are a regular consumer, well, let's just say that the thought of being fed the wrong information by Samsung is frustrating.
Sometimes, the company even undersells its own products! It still does it through its official Galaxy Book 4 Edge store pages, which is why I can't even say the company shares erroneous information maliciously. Samsung sometimes messes up to its detriment. It's more like bad advertisement than false advertisement.
Here's a perfect example, courtesy of two separate Galaxy Book 4 Edge spec sheets from Samsung's official e-shop. The spec sheet below and to the left states that both the 14 and 16-inch Galaxy Book 4 Edge laptops have “1 x Headphone/Mic Combo,” that is, a 3.5mm audio port. The other spec sheet, below and to the right, suggests the 14-inch model is missing the 3.5mm audio port when, in fact, it doesn't.
Here is another example, this time not as harmless. In one listing (left), Samsung makes it clear that only the 16-inch Galaxy Book 4 Edge has a microSD card slot. But access the compare section after you go to the laptop's buy page, and this other spec sheet suggests — through omission — that the microSD card slot is present on all models.
This isn't the first time Samsung has shared erroneous information, and after years of observing the same behavior emerging from time to time, it's getting frustrating.
Mind you, this isn't even a critique of the Galaxy Book 4 Edge laptop. Nevertheless, the notebook's launch served as another reminder of the few things I think Samsung should improve to communicate better with customers.
Editor's Note: If you've ever wondered why our reviews sometimes take longer to go live, this is one of the reasons. We try to be as thorough and accurate as possible and go above and beyond verifying facts and information. Everyone can make mistakes, but we aim to make fewer than Samsung.
