Last month, Samsung promised to roll out a suite of new AI features to “100 million galaxy users” by the end of March 2024. That rollout appears to be happening right now, according to users who are receiving notifications about an upcoming update.
The new AI tools are bundled with the One UI 6.1 update, which was previously only available on the Galaxy S24. In a surprise move, the Korean company said in February that it would bring the entire lineup of Galaxy AI features to older devices.
The AI features—Live Translate, Circle to Search, Note Assist and generative image editing—will only come to select Samsung devices released in 2023. That includes the Galaxy S23 series, S23 FE, both of the latest Fold and Flip handsets and the Tab S9 series. Older devices that Samsung is still supporting with Android updates and security patches, like the Galaxy S22 range, won’t get the new AI features.
Galaxy S23 owners on Reddit have been receiving notifications about the impending update. One user, in Romania, said Samsung had emailed them about One UI 6.1 on March 25th. “So I just received an email from Samsung saying that they will update my S23 Ultra to the new OneUI. I guess [in] a matter of hours or days maybe.” They explained.
Other Reddit users in Belgium and China are receiving the same email, so it looks like Samsung is preparing to roll the update out globally. Tarun Vats on Twitter/X, who tracks Samsung updates, posted a screenshot of a notification from a Chinese Galaxy user, which states that the update will land on March 28th.
It’s worth pointing out that the users who are receiving these notifications appear to be Galaxy S23 owners. It doesn’t look like Fold 5, Flip 5 or Tab S9 owners have been contacted yet. I haven’t received anything for my Fold 5, for example.
Why would the Korean company give away these major Galaxy S24 exclusive (formally) features? There is some logic to Samsung’s seeming generosity: the company might charge for these features in the future. The small print on Samsung’s website states that “Galaxy AI features will be provided for free until at least the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices.”
This is likely the company covering its bases in case the cost of providing AI tools for free becomes overwhelming. It is, after all, expensive to research and develop generative AI technology. Other companies with their own language models are trending towards charging a fee for their chatbots. Google recently bundled Gemini Advanced (the paid version of Gemini) with its Google One cloud storage plan, which also includes free subscriptions to Nest Aware and Fitbit Premium. We’ll have to see if Samsung does indeed decide to charge for these AI tools in 2025, but if it does I suspect it will release more features before that deadline to make a subscription more appealing.
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