Samsung is placing a major bet on artificial intelligence (AI) and as per TM Roh, the company’s consumer device chief, it wants to partner with as many AI companies as possible to win the next great smartphone war. Roh said Samsung is “open to strategic co-operation” with multiple AI companies as it races to gain advantage over Apple in the global smartphone market.
“We got into the preparation earlier than others, [and] that is how we have taken and maintained leadership in mobile AI,” the Financial Times quoted Roh as saying. He added said Samsung’s own research shows that consumers are no longer loyal to a single AI platform and that the company intends to give them the “choice” they want.
“Consumers are not bound to one AI platform, they are utilising multiple AI models. We are open to all solutions… choice, I believe, is how Galaxy AI appeals to consumers,” Roh added. His comments came days after Samsung launched the Galaxy S26 series of smartphones that come loaded with a string of features powered by AI.
Galaxy AI features in Samsung Galaxy S26 series
Samsung has already integrated Google’s Gemini models into its Galaxy devices, and more recently, it added Perplexity AI to its mobile operating system in Galaxy S26 series. Users can now summon it by saying “Hey Plex. ”
This means that Samsung Galaxy AI now offers Bixby and Perplexity along with Google Gemini – which is central to most of the AI features. Last week, Samsung showcased a voice assistant capable of booking a taxi without the user pressing a single button.
Roh made clear that these deals are just the beginning. Samsung is actively looking to bring in more AI partners, including potentially OpenAI, as it builds out a suite of tools designed to make its smartphones smarter and more useful than the competition.
Apple playing catch-up
Samsung’s aggressive AI push is also a direct response to Apple, which has struggled to deliver on the AI features it unveiled last year under its “Apple Intelligence” banner. Many of those features have yet to reach users, giving Samsung an opening.
Meanwhile, Apple has moved to close the gap through its own deals, striking an agreement in January to integrate Google’s Gemini models and leaning on OpenAI’s ChatGPT for smarter search and writing tools. An overhauled Siri voice assistant is also expected later this year.
