Roh Tae-moon: "AI to be embedded in all Samsung IT devices... Joint AI OS with Google to be unveiled soon"

The Financial News correspondent Lee Byung-chul reporting from San Francisco, United States: Samsung Electronics plans to extend artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities beyond smartphones to tablets, PCs, wearables and the broader information technology (IT) ecosystem. The company also signaled the upcoming launch of a new AI Operating System (AI OS) co-developed with Google.
Samsung aims to deliver a fully realized Agentic AI smartphone that understands conversational context with users and can even carry out tasks on their behalf, driving a new wave of user-experience innovation.
On the 25th (local time), Roh Tae-moon, head of the Device eXperience (DX) Division and president of the Samsung Electronics Mobile eXperience (MX) Business, said at a media roundtable with Korean reporters in San Francisco, "Good AI quietly works in the background to make everyday life easier," adding, "We will soon introduce an AI OS jointly developed with Google."
The new AI OS represents an advanced form of integrating AI into the core system. Instead of users having to open each application one by one, AI will handle their tasks from start to finish.
By linking AI across the entire OS, Samsung intends to strengthen the interconnectivity between users and their devices.
Roh said, "Starting with the Samsung Galaxy S26 series, we will continue to further advance the AI OS," and emphasized, "We will build a foundation at the OS level that understands and connects context, so that Agentic AI can operate more smoothly."
To popularize AI, Samsung Electronics has decided to equip all of its major IT devices with Galaxy AI. The company plans to nearly double the number of Galaxy devices capable of using AI, from 400 million at the end of last year to 800 million this year.
Samsung also intends to roll out new AI features to previous models such as the Samsung Galaxy S25 and other devices that have sufficient hardware performance to run AI smoothly. Roh stated, "AI should not be a privilege for a few, but a basic infrastructure that everyone uses every day," presenting accessibility, universality, and trust as the key standards for building AI infrastructure.
Roh acknowledged that the price increase for the Galaxy S26 was unavoidable due to higher production costs stemming from a sharp rise in memory semiconductor prices, but stressed that he intends to turn this crisis into an opportunity. Depending on the configuration, the Galaxy S26 is priced 99,000 to 295,900 won higher than its predecessor.
He said, "We have done our best to keep domestic prices at the most competitive level compared with major global markets," adding, "We are making every effort to ensure that prices in Korea remain the lowest relative to global markets."
Roh declined to go into detail about the possibility of price hikes for future products, including the new Samsung Galaxy Z series foldable smartphones scheduled for release in the second half of this year.
He said, "We will only decide on price increases when there are unavoidable circumstances, such as a sharp rise in exchange rates or component prices," and added, "We are working to ensure that consumers do not feel overly burdened." Roh expressed confidence that the Galaxy S26 series will surpass its predecessor in sales performance. Launched early last year, the Galaxy S25 achieved the highest pre-order volume of any S series model to date, contributing significantly to Samsung Electronics' strong results. He noted, "The Galaxy S25 series did not just benefit from a temporary surge in demand at launch. Continued positive reviews and feedback on the user experience steadily strengthened its sales momentum," and added, "We will continue to research global perceptions of AI and further develop AI so that anyone can use it easily and conveniently." pride@fnnews.com