Samsung could soon bring some of the Galaxy's AI features to its more affordable mid-range Galaxy A35 and Galaxy A55 phones. This is an intriguing possibility that would follow the arrival of AI features on Samsung's older flagships after they first appeared on the Galaxy S24 earlier this year.
Samsung’s expansion of the number of phones that support its AI features stands in stark contrast to Apple and the limited availability of Apple Intelligence among iPhones. While the iPhone 16 models coming this fall will support the new AI capabilities, only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max among existing devices will be able to run these features. And that’s how it’s going to continue going forward.
And that raises the question of whether Apple has shot itself in the foot with its plans to introduce Apple Intelligence.
Personally, I think Samsung has done a much better job of marketing and delivering Galaxy AI to customers so far. The same can’t really be said for Apple, and not because the initial features are only available in the iOS 18.1 developer beta at the moment. It will improve over time, but the number of iPhones that will support Apple Intelligence will remain stuck after the iPhone 16 launches.
This is where I think Apple went wrong: why has Samsung managed to improve this whole AI thing so far?
Apple Intelligence is reserved for a privileged few
Apple Intelligence got off to an inauspicious start with the announcement at WWDC that the majority of iPhones would not be able to use Apple’s AI. This is apparently due to the lack of available RAM on most devices. From what I understand, Apple Intelligence requires about 2GB of spare RAM to run, which would use up a large chunk of the memory that most iPhones offer. This suggests a lack of preparation on Apple’s part when it comes to releasing phones with enough RAM to support future features.
On the other hand, Samsung has been gradually increasing the amount of RAM in its devices, with most of them now having at least 8-12GB. For a long time, this didn’t make much of a difference. In fact, most iPhones have consistently topped our fastest phones lists. But Samsung’s decision to increase RAM seems to have paid off in the long run, as it’s easier to add Galaxy AI features to existing devices.
| AI for Samsung Galaxy | Apple Information |
| Galaxy S24 Ultra | iPhone 15 Pro |
| Galaxy S24/S24+ | iPhone 15 Pro Max |
| Galaxy Z Fold 6 | iPhone 16 series (coming soon) |
| Galaxy Z Flip 6 | Line 4 – Cell 1 |
| Galaxy S23 Ultra | Line 5 – Cell 1 |
| Galaxy S23/S23+ | Row 6 – Cell 1 |
| Galaxy S23 FE | Line 7 – Cell 1 |
| Galaxy Z Fold 5 | Line 8 – Cell 1 |
| Galaxy Z Flip 5 | Line 9 – Cell 1 |
| Galaxy S22/S22+ | Line 10 – Cell 1 |
| Galaxy Z Flip 4 | Line 11 – Cell 1 |
Nobody likes to upgrade for an unreleased feature.
It's fair to say that people are reluctant to upgrade to a new device if it's for the promise of an upcoming feature rather than one that's already available. I know this because I've made this argument myself.
This approach means that a phone maker is expecting people to pay for something — and a lot of it considering the price of new phones — for something that may not have much of a return on investment once it finally arrives on the device. With Apple Intelligence set to continue adding promised features through 2025, this is essentially what Apple is asking people to do if they're considering upgrading just to have an AI-enabled phone this fall.
I know I like to test things out before spending a lot of money, which is why I miss the days when magazines offered demo discs for consoles. However, with Apple Intelligence, the testing options are very limited: you can only try the beta if you own one of the two compatible iPhone models. Otherwise, you're going in blind, and that's not a good option for a lot of people, especially since the differences between iPhones seem pretty minimal these days.
In the meantime, Samsung’s decision to offer AI in some form on the majority of its recent flagships might be a better incentive to upgrade. Moving from a Galaxy S24 to a Galaxy S25 or Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a lot less intimidating when you know what to expect. For example, if you have a Galaxy S23, you can use some of the AI features, which makes the upgrade less risky because you know you like those features.
I see a slight flaw in Samsung’s plan here: Expanding the number of devices that can run Galaxy AI reduces the need to upgrade to a newer model. This is especially common in some of the new features on more advanced phones, as they tend to feel more gimmicky than useful. (I’m thinking of the Portrait Studio AI feature added to the Galaxy Z Fold 6 that can turn your photos into cartoons.)
Samsung's plan is more effective bug hunting
While AI is very impressive, there’s no denying that it has a lot of bugs. For example, it was recently announced that Apple Intelligence has decided to mark spam as a priority and send it to the user. Most of these bugs will be detected and reported in the current beta versions, especially with Apple Intelligence, which is still in the early stages of testing. But there will always be more bugs to detect, especially considering how many other apps and features the smartphone-based AI has to interact with.
Catching these bugs can be problematic if there aren't enough people testing betas, which is likely the case with Apple Intelligence and its limited number of compatible phones. Again, as Samsung puts AI into more devices, the chances of catching bugs that might have slipped through the cracks are greater.
If there’s a silver lining to this, it’s that Apple is very good at adapting, and it’s important to remember that Apple Intelligence isn’t an iPhone-only addition. It’s also included in the upcoming versions of macOS Sequoia and iPadOS 18, with broader support across Macs and iPads. That should improve things somewhat.
Only time will tell which company has the better plan, and it will certainly be interesting to see which company truly wins the phone AI war. In the meantime, check out our best AI tools and devices of 2024 to find out who’s playing the AI game right now and what they can teach large enterprises.