Technology & Science
Samsung Targets 800 Million Galaxy-AI Devices and Full-Line AI Rollout in 2026
Co-CEO TM Roh set a 2026 goal to double Galaxy-AI-equipped gadgets from 400 million to 800 million and embed AI in every Samsung product category, while warning price hikes may follow a memory-chip squeeze.
Focusing Facts
- Roh told Reuters (5 Jan 2026) that Galaxy-AI penetration will rise from ~400 million devices in 2025 to 800 million in 2026.
- Samsung’s surveys report Galaxy-AI brand awareness jumped from ~30 % to ~80 % over the past year.
- Roh did not rule out retail price increases as soaring HBM and DRAM costs persist amid a global chip shortage.
Context
Samsung’s declaration echoes its 1993 “New Management” pivot—when Lee Kun-hee ordered engineers to ‘change everything but your wife’—in that it tries to reset the firm’s culture around a single technology wave. Historically, mass feature migrations (e.g., IBM putting hard-disk drives in every 1983 PC, or Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer in Windows 1998) have tipped platform wars by making an emergent capability default rather than optional. The stated 800 million-unit target matters because Samsung ships roughly 500 million devices a year; hitting it would mean virtually every product sold carries on-device generative models, normalising AI the way cameras became standard after 2004. It also spotlights the supply-chain paradox of the AI boom: demand for HBM and advanced nodes lifts Samsung’s foundry margins yet squeezes its phone unit, a duality last seen during the DRAM super-cycle of 1988-1989. Over a century-scale lens, this moment sits at the junction where consumer electronics shift from hardware-defined to model-defined value; if Samsung succeeds, future device differentiation may hinge less on silicon specs than on proprietary, vertically-tuned AI stacks—potentially recasting today’s handset battle into an AI-platform contest reminiscent of the operating-system wars of the 1980s but on far more ubiquitous, ambient hardware.
Perspectives
South Korean business press
e.g., The Korea Herald, SamMobile — Presents Samsung’s plan to blanket all products with AI as a decisive comeback strategy that will re-establish the firm’s technological leadership and satisfy soaring customer demand. These outlets often rely on Samsung’s corporate access and the company’s pivotal role in the national economy, so they largely echo executive talking points and understate execution risks or consumer push-back.
Consumer-oriented tech media wary of AI hype
e.g., Android Headlines, T3, The Verge — Questions whether Samsung’s ‘AI everywhere’ push could feel forced and warns that chip shortages may translate into higher gadget prices for users. By foregrounding possible annoyances and cost hikes, these publications court reader engagement through skepticism, sometimes extrapolating worst-case consumer impacts from limited statements.
Market & investor-focused outlets
e.g., Republic World, The Indian Express, Investing.com — Frames the AI expansion chiefly as a competitive move that could double Galaxy AI devices to 800 million, buoy Samsung’s share price, and give Google’s Gemini an edge amid a global chip crunch. Prioritising financial angles, these reports emphasise shipment targets, stock moves and corporate rivalry, giving scant attention to user experience or broader societal implications of ubiquitous AI.