At the Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung announced its sixth-generation foldable smartphones, the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip6, alongside new smartwatches, TWS and a new health ring. The Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 are also Samsung’s latest devices to feature Galaxy AI, Samsung’s on-device and cloud-based GenAI features on board.
At the event, Gerrit Schneemann, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research, sat down with Brad Haczynski, SVP & GM Mobile eXperience B2B, USA, at Samsung, to discuss the new launches, AI and more. They also discussed the increasingly interconnected ecosystem of devices for enterprises and users looking for the latest in mobile productivity hardware.
The Interview
Key Takeaways from the Discussion
- Samsung is positioning its ecosystem of devices as a complete solution for businesses of all sizes. In the mobility sector, this ranges from entry-level devices for fleet deployment (A-series), all the way to foldables, in addition to tablets and laptops.
- The Galaxy Z Fold has replaced the Note series as a productivity powerhouse. Samsung believes that this type of device can be utilized as a main computing device for workers moving between offices and client locations.
- Galaxy AI features easily fit into workflows and can enhance productivity. However, Samsung is aware that in regulatory environments, businesses need clarity on how AI capabilities are delivered (on-device vs cloud).
- Samsung offers businesses the option to customize AI features and has an established security and privacy brand called Samsung
- Wearables are likely to have become more important for businesses in two ways – they can monitor employees to ensure safety, provide health benefits and incentivize healthy behaviors. They can also be deployed by companies as gateways to the end consumer to enable health monitoring in different scenarios.
- Samsung’s Energy Score is an example of how wearables, combined with AI, can deliver personalized health tracking.
Analyst Takeaways
- Samsung continues to focus on the Galaxy Z Fold6 as a productivity tool for enterprise clients, where mobile computing is increasingly essential. It offers employees access to a flexible computing platform, which can be used as a standalone device or connect to external displays and accessories with always-on connectivity, is an attractive solution, despite the device’s flagship price.
- Over the last five generations of the device, Samsung has partnered with app developers to optimize their enterprise applications for the larger Fold display.
- Galaxy AI features bring another element of productivity to the table. Features like real-time translation and transcription are ideal for enterprise users.
- Samsung has also invested heavily in its Knox security platform over the years, and it can now integrate AI capabilities in a way that allows enterprises to stay within their internal regulations and guidelines while taking advantage of novel productivity features.
- The launch of the Galaxy Ring illustrates Samsung’s desire to create a broad ecosystem of devices that can address many use cases for business users and create B2B2C relationships as well – a win-win for Samsung and its partners.
- Furthermore, the fast evolution of Galaxy AI capabilities since the initial launch earlier this year showcases Samsung’s focus on rapid iteration to drive AI use cases and features into more aspects of the mobile user experience and deliver them to a larger part of the existing user base.