Samsung follows Apple with ‘cheap’ AI mobile phones

Samsung has followed Apple, unleashing its artificial intelligence product across its cheaper devices as competition in the smartphone market intensifies.

Best face is feature that helps people take better group photos by selecting the best faces from multiples shots.

Samsung has followed Apple, unleashing its artificial intelligence offering across its cheaper devices as competition in the smartphone market intensifies. 

The Korean tech titan has unveiled its new range of mid-range Galaxy A series smartphones, which are priced from $499.

The phones feature what Samsung called “Awesome Intelligence” – a stripped down version of the AI available on its more up-market Z and S series devices. 

The Samsung Galaxy A56 in 'Awesome Olive'.

Apple released its “affordable” iPhone, the 16e, last week. But unlike Samsung, Apple has equipped the 16e with its full range of AI-powered features, dubbed Apple Intelligence, with pricing from $999.

Samsung Australia head of product, smartphones Nathan Rigger said the company plans to sell more than 1 million of the new A series devices nationally – comprising about half its overall smartphone sales.

“Not everyone is a flagship customer,” Mr Rigger said, adding the AI features on the A series were designed to be more intuitive than the up-market models.

“We’re taking the important or highly used AI features and bringing them into the mid-tier without sort of over complicating AI.”

Samsung has released its new range of A series phones.

A lot of the so-called productivity features are absent on the new A series models. This includes auto-transcription the voice recorder, call recorder, writing tools and ‘Now Brief’, which gives users information throughout the day like the weather, what meetings are scheduled and health data such as sleep score.

“It’s just sort of some key AI features that we’re sort of bringing through to make that experience more intuitive and (offer) sort of the more popular ones that are coming through,” Mr Rigger said.

The AI features on the A series include ‘circle to search’, which allow users to tap on an image to gain more information about it. There is also an eraser tool to remove unwanted objects in pictures and ‘song search’ which can identify music playing nearby or if a user hums or sings a tune. The A56 comes with a ‘best face’ feature, that makes it easier for people to take group photos by selecting the best faces from multiple shots and composing them in the one image.

Mr Rigger said the main reasons people buy A series device were durability, camera and

display quality, as well as battery life.

The new A series models all feature a 5000mAh battery, which can provide up to almost two days’ of battery life. The phones also feature three cameras – an ultra-wide, main camera and macro camera – on the rear, as well as a front camera.

They also have a Super AMOLED 6.7 inch display, with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz.

Galaxy A56 5G will be available in ‘Awesome Olive’ and ‘Awesome Graphite’ and priced from $699. The mid-range A36 comes in lavender and black with a price tag from $549 while the entry-level A26 will be available in black only and cost $499.

Originally published as Samsung follows Apple with ‘cheap’ AI mobile phones