Samsung’s Galaxy S24 line-up is expected to be revealed and released in January during a Galaxy Unpacked event poised to kick-start 2024’s smartphone arms race. There we will get our first look at the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Also likely to make an appearance will be the latest One UI 6.1 update — Samsung’s proprietary front-end software for Android. The software update is expected to be released alongside Samsung’s Galaxy S24 range and bring with it a wave of Generative AI tools to enhance the South Korean giant’s smartphone experience.
Thanks to a recent leak, we’ve been granted an early sneak peek at some of these features in action.
Galaxy One U-AI 6.1
It’s teenage tech tipster Benit Bruhner Pro who delivers the goods this week after leaking a One UI 6.1 video highlighting the OS’ AI features. The two-minute video showcases a generative AI wallpaper tool in action, allowing you to play mad-libs for a uniquely crafted result.
An eerily familiar Photo Editor that can remove or move subjects around an image at will — even expanding the photo beyond its borders with a generative AI fill also makes its debut. As does the real-time translation of phone calls and Voice Focus — which uses AI to remove background sounds and clear up your voice in calls or recordings.
While impressive to see these features arrive on Samsung smartphones, I’d be far more impressed if these features hadn’t already arrived on the Android platform by way of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. Indeed, the Pixel has been plundered of its computational prowess as Samsung parrot particulars of the 8 Pro’s impressive Magic Editor and Audio Magic Eraser to name a few.
Outlook
In late October, it was reported that the South Korean manufacturer was making a big push to squeeze AI features into the Galaxy S24 line-up in prep for its 2024 release. However, Samsung may have realized that wedging an AI brainchild into your products as an afterthought was potentially a bad idea — though likely, simply too much of a money and time-consuming one.
As such, it appears that much of what Samsung is offering with Generative AI could rely heavily on Google’s infrastructure, with generative tools like the AI wallpaper generator requiring users to log in with a Google Account to make use of them.
While we at least know that this will give the Galaxy S24 line-up a solid AI backing to build upon, it doesn’t help to make One UI feel anything more than a Samsung sticker, hastily applied over the top of a perfectly functional Android 14 operating system.
