‘Galaxy’ is the world’s first… “I never thought it would happen like this” Unprecedented situation: Nate News
Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook was announcing the iPhone 15 at Apple Park in Cupertino, California./Yonhap News
It is predicted that Apple will rank first in artificial intelligence (AI) smartphone shipments this year. Although Samsung Electronics took the title of ‘world’s first’ when it released the Galaxy S24 series early this year, there are speculations that it will fall behind Apple, which released an AI phone much later.
According to global market research company Countpoint Research on the 12th, Apple expanded its own AI system ‘Apple Intelligence’ function, which will be released soon, to all models of the iPhone 15 series and iPhone 16 series, taking over 50% of the generative AI smartphone market. It seems likely that it will be secured. It was calculated that the first to third best-selling smartphones in the third quarter of this year were the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPhone 15 Pro.
On the other hand, Samsung Electronics supports the ‘Galaxy AI’ function only for its major flagship models, and the products with the highest global sales are mainly the mid- to low-priced Galaxy A series, which eventually falls behind the iPhone.
The Galaxy A series ranked 4th to 7th in smartphone sales in the third quarter, and the Galaxy S24 ranked 10th. Accordingly, it is expected to remain in second place with a total market share of less than 20%.
Samsung Electronics launched the Galaxy S24 series, its first AI smartphone, in January this year. Samsung initially applied AI functions to the Galaxy S23 series, Galaxy S23 FE, Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Flip 5, and Galaxy Tab S9 series through software updates. Then, in March of this year, models supporting AI functions were expanded to include the Galaxy S22 series, Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Z Flip 4, and Galaxy Tab S8 series.
In fact, when Samsung Electronics and Apple each released their first AI phones, Samsung Electronics seemed to have the upper hand. While Samsung Electronics was able to dominate the market with the premium of being the world’s first, Apple was evaluated as “half-baked” because it was not equipped with the completed Apple AI intelligence function despite its title as the first AI phone.
However, the situation changed last month when Apple released iOS 18.1, which includes Apple Intelligence features. The Korean version of this feature, which was officially released about four months after the first release of Apple Intelligence, is scheduled to be released around April next year. Software updates were also carried out for iPad OS 18.1, including iPhone, and Mac OS Sequoia 15.1.
Generative AI smartphones, which have become a major trend in the smartphone market, are expected to continue growing steadily until 2028, and their share of all smartphones is expected to increase to about 54%.
Yoo Ji-hee, Hankyung.com reporter keephee@hankyung.com