Samsung just made a massive bet on AI

Hey everyone,

I was reading through tech news this morning and one number just stopped me cold.

Eight hundred million.

That is how many devices Samsung wants running Google's Gemini AI inside them before December 31st of this year.

I sat with that for a minute. Because that is not a roadmap slide. That is not a five-year vision. That is happening right now, in 2026.

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Back to Main Point 👇

Last year, Samsung got Gemini onto around 400 million devices. Most people considered that impressive. The company looked at that number and decided to double it in twelve months.

For reference, the entire population of Europe is about 750 million people. Samsung wants more AI-powered devices in hands than there are people on that continent.

Samsung's co-CEO TM Roh said something at their last major event that honestly stuck with me. He didn't say they were exploring AI or testing AI. He said they would apply it to every product, every function, and every service. Full stop.

That is a very different kind of commitment.

Samsung makes the hardware. Hundreds of millions of phones, tablets, TVs, and appliances. But building a world-class AI model from scratch takes years and billions. Google already has Gemini, one of the strongest AI models available right now.

So Samsung brings the reach. Google brings the brain. Together, they have something neither could pull off alone.

What makes this interesting is the timing. Google released Gemini 3 in late 2025, and by most accounts, it rattled people at OpenAI. Reports came out that Sam Altman called a "code red" internally, pulling teams off other work to speed up their next model.

When Samsung pushed Gemini into hundreds of millions of pockets, it didn't just send a message to phone buyers. It sent a message to the whole AI industry.

Forget the marketing language for a second. Here is what Galaxy AI does in plain terms.

A year ago, barely anyone knew what Galaxy AI was. Today, awareness of the brand has gone from 30% to 80% among Samsung users. People found these features and kept coming back to them.

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Let’s Finish

Everyone is talking about the phone side of this. Fair enough. But the bigger picture is what Samsung calls "Connect Future."

The plan is to put AI into everything they make. Not just phones. Televisions. Fridges. Washing machines. Earbuds. Every product line.

Think about what that actually looks like day-to-day. Your TV notices you turned the volume down and automatically turns on subtitles. Your fridge tracks what is running low and adds it to a shopping list.

That shift from devices that respond to devices that anticipate is what Samsung is actually building toward.

Two things worth knowing before you get fully excited.

First, there is a global chip shortage right now, driven by how much hardware AI data centers need. Samsung makes chips, so their semiconductor business is doing well. But the phone side is getting squeezed on costs. TM Roh was straight about it: Prices on consumer electronics may go up in 2026. The AI features are free. The phone itself might cost you more than you expected.

Second, Samsung knows it is not ahead on the AI model side. They have Google's help for now, but they want their own capabilities. They have committed around $90 billion over five years to build them. That is an enormous bet, and it tells you they aren't planning to depend on a partner forever.

The real question

Samsung isn't doing this to win an award. They lost the top spot in global smartphone sales to Apple for the first time in fourteen years. Chinese brands are pushing hard with solid phones at lower prices. This AI push is how Samsung plans to fight back on both fronts.

For you, though, the practical question is simpler.

AI is no longer the flashy "extra" thing on expensive phones. In 2026, it is the standard. Every major phone maker is either already there or scrambling to get there.

The phone in your pocket right now might already have some of this. Most people have never turned it on.

Worth checking.

Catch you next time,

— RAJA TAHOOR AHMAD

P.S. Open your phone settings and search for AI features. I would genuinely bet most of you have something you have never tried. Let me know what you find.