PARIS — Samsung’s latest generation of foldable phones aims to attract traditional phone users with the help of artificial intelligence.
At its annual Unpacked event on Wednesday, held for the first time in Paris, the company announced updates to its foldable devices and earbuds, and shared more details about its upcoming smart ring.
The stars of the show, however, are Samsung’s latest foldable phones, which are now lighter, slimmer and packed with AI tools: the Galaxy Z Fold 6, a smartphone that opens like a book to form a tablet, and the clamshell-like Galaxy Z Flip 6, with a design reminiscent of flip phones from the early 2000s.
According to the company, both devices feature a more durable hinge, longer battery life and are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, which is optimized for AI processing.
However, these upgrades come at a higher cost. The new Galaxy Z Fold starts at $1,899.99, up $100 from last year, and comes in silver, pink, and navy. Meanwhile, the Z Flip starts at $1,099.99 (also $100 more than last year) and comes in silver, yellow, blue, and mint. The devices went on sale on Wednesday.
David McQueen, research director at ABI Research, believes that foldable displays will also find their way into other mobile products, such as tablets, laptops and smartwatches, in the coming years.
“While the user experience of foldable devices has improved with each new version, the industry has yet to fully convince consumers of the improved usability, tangible benefits and additional functionality of a foldable product,” he said.
Before the event, TM Roh, Samsung’s president and head of mobile experience, told CNN that the new price reflects component costs, but could drop further in the future.
“The price depends very much on how the related technologies develop and how fast they evolve in the future,” he said. “We believe it will take time (for prices to come down), so from now on we are focusing more on the premium aspects.”
Roh also believes his Galaxy AI software will continue to make his foldable line the market leader, at a time when other flip and fold models from companies like Google, Huawei and Motorola are rolling out compelling options. Samsung’s foldable line accounts for between 80% and 85% of the market share. Some expect Apple to launch a foldable iPhone in the coming years.
Samsung’s Big AI Push
Both the Flip and Fold come packed with new AI tools, including an updated Note Assist feature that enables transcription, translation and summarization of voice recordings directly within Notes, and live translation for phone calls. Another new feature called Composer on the Samsung Keyboard creates text suggestions based on keywords for email and social media apps, aiming to reflect your tone of voice by analyzing past messages.
Google’s Gemini AI assistant is also built right into the phone. Users can say “Hey Google” or swipe the corner of the screen to get help with writing or performing web searches. Other features include a circle-to-search tool and a function that offers image options based on simple sketches or drawings when using Samsung’s S Pen stylus.
Roh told CNN that AI is heavily integrated into Galaxy products and that Samsung is also taking a hybrid approach when it comes to privacy, giving users the ability to control when AI requests are executed directly on the device or in the cloud.
“If privacy is more important to you, or if low latency is more important to you, someone might leverage on-device AI versus higher capacity, higher performance where they might leverage a cloud-based AI,” he said. “We can provide the optimal technology given the consumer use case so that our devices are no longer just called the smartphone, but more of an AI phone.”
Beyond the foldable
While Samsung previewed its smart ring that wears on a finger earlier this year, the company revealed the device’s pricing and new specs. The sensor-packed ring will offer health monitoring, including the ability to take your temperature, track your sleep and provide personalized insights. The device, which comes in black, silver and gold, will likely go head-to-head with smart ring leader Oura. Pricing starts at $399.99 and the device went on sale on Wednesday.
According to IDC Research, smart rings are the fastest-growing segment in wearables, with annual growth of 29% over the next five years. Francisco Jeronimo, vice president of data and analytics at IDC, said consumers should be attracted to the product because it is a “less intrusive” form factor than a smartwatch, but still tracks important vital signs.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple announces its own ring soon,” Jeronimo said. “Of course, it could cannibalize smartwatch sales, but we don’t think it’s going to be a big problem.”
That’s because people might prefer to wear a smartwatch for its ability to send messages or perform advanced health tracking, such as taking an ECG. But those same people might prefer to sleep with a smart ring on their finger rather than a smartwatch on their wrist.
Meanwhile, the new Galaxy Buds 3, which start at $179.99, now include an Interpreter mode that lets users translate lectures or meetings into other languages in real time. It also adds new controls that let you play or stop music without having to physically touch the earbuds.
It comes in white and silver and goes on sale from Wednesday.