AI is coming to mid-range phones

After flagship, comes mid-range AI.

A report from Counterpoint Research shows that one in five new phones sold in 2024 will be equipped with Generative AI. This shows that the trend of integrating Gen AI into smartphones is happening faster than expected, mainly thanks to advanced processing chips and the emergence of lean, efficient large language models (LLMs).

Artificial intelligence is becoming an important factor in smartphones, not just in the high-end segment. Samsung is currently leading the race to bring AI to smartphones in terms of the number of phones integrated. At the same time, many manufacturers are also pursuing this trend.

AI Phone Race

“AI features are becoming standard on high-end smartphones and will rapidly expand to mid-range from 2025,” said a report by Counterpoint Research.

Smartphone makers are likely to ramp up their promotion of Gen AI in 2025. However, adoption is limited as AI is not yet useful in everyday life, so many companies are working on more practical features to encourage users to upgrade.

Gen AI Phone market growth forecast. Photo: Counterpoint Research.

Samsung is expected to take the lead in early Gen AI smartphones, thanks to its existing recognition in the high-end segment and developed markets. Later, the company's mid-range models will also inherit the new tool.

Analysts predict that Chinese companies will soon join the race to create AI on phones. By cooperating with Google, many tools will be integrated into Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo phones in the near future.

Bringing AI to Mid-Range Phones

A report by Counterpoint Research shows that Vietnamese and neighboring countries are spending more on phones. Samsung is the manufacturer with the largest upgrade margin. The average amount a customer spends to buy a smartphone from the company in Southeast Asia is 326 USD (8.3 million VND). This is also the price range of Galaxy A products that sell well.

However, this segment is also highly competitive, as Chinese rivals dominate in terms of price. To attract customers, this year the Korean company brought part of its famous Galaxy AI tool to the new A series. The generative intelligence solution, after more than a year of launch, has been highly appreciated by experts and is one of the main drivers for the company's growth in the flagship segment.

3 new Galaxy A phones from Samsung.

The Galaxy A26, A36 and A56 products, starting at around VND5 million, are supported with basic AI tasks, integrated in the Awesome Intelligence toolkit. Of which, the most applicable solution is Circle to Search.

By holding down the Home key or the navigation bar, users can interact with all the information on the screen. Searching, copying, and translating are faster and more efficient than previous solutions.

Camera functions such as automatic shadow removal and reflection removal in photos can also be widely applied in practice. The solution to remove redundant objects on the camera uses the old-fashioned solution of compensating for missing frames, which can reduce performance with complex scenes.

In return, customer data is kept entirely on the machine, processing faster than the cloud AI method.

AI functionality on mid-range Samsung phones, pre-installed with Android 15.

After the S25 series, this year's A series comes pre-installed with OneUI 7, Android 15. The new interface has smooth effects, enhancing user experience.

The Galaxy A26, A36 and A56 are priced better in Vietnam. However, the products have to compete with rivals from Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo. These companies are also looking to integrate AI into their products to compete with Samsung this year.