If you have a Samsung phone or tablet that is a couple of years old, we have bad news: you will not receive the new artificial intelligence features of the Galaxy S24. The South Korean company has decided to limit the scope of its brand new technology, named Galaxy AI.
As confirmed by a company executive TechRadarGalaxy AI features They will be limited to models from 2023 onwards. So if you have a fourth-generation foldable—Fold or Flip—, a Galaxy S22, a Galaxy Tab S8 or earlier, don’t get your hopes up about enjoying Samsung’s latest in artificial intelligence.
Patrick Chomet, Samsung’s consumer experience leader, confirmed that Galaxy AI will be available outside of the Galaxy S24 line. In fact, during the first half of the year it will be enabled on the rest of the compatible devices. But the truly curious thing is that it has been decided to marginalize a group of teams that, despite being a few generations old, have proven to be very productive.
The first reading that could be made in this regard is that perhaps Samsung is prioritizing devices from 2023 and later due to hardware limitations. However, That is not the case. The Asian brand simply decided to restrict access to more recent generation mobile phones and tablets. At least for now. “At the moment, we are limiting Galaxy AI to next-generation devices,” Chomet said.
Which devices will be compatible with Samsung’s Galaxy AI features?
In addition to the new Samsung Galaxy S24, 24+ and S24 Ultra, Galaxy AI’s artificial intelligence-powered features will reach 9 other devices:
- Galaxy S23, S23+, S23 Ultra and S23 FE;
- Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5;
- Galaxy Tab S9, S9+ and S9 Ultra.
Why won’t Galaxy AI reach models before 2023? Because Samsung says it is certain that the technology will work well on last year’s models, but not on older ones.
“We want to ensure that, over time, our AI experiences can be supported by mobile performance, which leads to CPU and GPU capacity. For now, we are learning. We are taking it step by step. We know that Galaxy AI works well on the Galaxy S24 and we know it will work well on the Galaxy S23. But we don’t know what the intensity of AI usage will be for the average customer, and therefore how that intensity will impact device resources and cloud resources,” Chomet explained.
A limitation that does not depend on hardware
So far, the explanation sounds quite rational. However, it is logical to think that the selection of devices made by Samsung It has been somewhat arbitrary. After all, as indicated TechRadar, the Galaxy S23 FE uses the same Exynos 2200 chip that we already saw in the European versions of the Galaxy S22, S22+ and S22 Ultra. Therefore, there should not be major performance differences for running Galaxy AI.
We will have to see how this story continues. Let’s keep in mind that several of the Galaxy AI functions use Gemini, Google’s latest artificial intelligence model. Therefore, it would not be strange if the implementation of the technology in a limited number of devices is due to a cost solution. If access to AI becomes cheaper over time, it may be feasible to bring it to older devices in the future.
After all, the Galaxy S24 will have free access to Galaxy AI tools until the end of 2025. Everything suggests that, after the deadline, users they will have to pay to continue using them. However, it is unknown if it will be under a subscription modality or through another monetization strategy.