For Mobile AI Leadership, It Takes a Village

Most people who look at smartphones evaluate them based on the label they see on the device, be it Apple, Huawei, Pixel, Samsung, etc. But in the era of AI enabled smartphones, it’s not only the name on the phone that matters, but the entire ecosystem that enables that device that determines how well it operates and what features will be useful. Indeed, in the emerging marketplace for personal AI devices, it takes a village to make a capable device.

Growth of AI

The major area targeted for the growth of AI capabilities is how it enables mobile device users to better interact with their devices and the information they need. While much of the initial unrealistic hype that Mobile AI may do something totally revolutionary and remake smartphones has died down, there still are a number of AI powered capabilities that smartphones actually get right. In the Android world, Samsung has been a leader in promoting AI with their latest generation of Galaxy S25 smartphones that were recently launched. But in order to achieve its compelling AI capability, we can’t only look at what Samsung has done to create this device. In fact, it took a village to accomplish.

Why it Takes a Village

On-device AI requires more than just the sleek hardware and the user interface that many people see when buying a smartphone. There are several other ingredients necessarily included under the covers. Building an AI enabled smartphone, or for that matter any AI enabled personal device, requires leadership capabilities in 3 primary areas:

• AI Models/Software – For the Galaxy S25, Samsung chose to partner with Google to enable AI features. Some were a result of being included in Android, which is the underlying OS powering Samsung devices. But, while many AI functions are processed on the device, there is an important relationship between on device and cloud based functionality. Google was a good choice as it smoothly powers on device AI and interfaces to the Google Gemini cloud capability.
• AI Processor Hardware – To optimally process AI, while also securing the features, Samsung’s longstanding partnership with Qualcomm, at least for their premium devices, enabled a Samsung specific version of the latest Snapdragon processors. The enhancements in AI processing and customized features enable Samsung to create a more capable device that keeps AI security at the forefront.
• User Interface/Experience – Samsung has long been known for its enhancement to the stock Android OS through its One UI feature rich OS. Together with its industry leading Knox security features now include a Personal Data Engine to protect on device processes and data.

This 3 way collaboration between Samsung, Google/Android and Qualcomm makes the device more than the sum of its parts.

Why Samsung Got it Right

What makes the new Galaxy devices AI leaders? Starting at the core, it’s a Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip that is custom altered for the needs of Samsung that are the brains of the device. It includes a capable NPU where much of the AI features and functions are processed. But it also takes an OS that has AI capability to make this possible. Google, with its enhancements to Android, and tailored AI capabilities built from Gemini, power many of the OS and app features running on the Galaxy smartphone. And finally, Samsung, with its efforts at making usability a dominating feature by deploying its One UI on top of Android, makes access to the embedded capabilities easy for users to navigate, not to mention the addition of Knox Security and Personal Data Engine to keep processing on the device and secured from data leaks.

We believe that the strength of the three together with their individual expertise and close cooperation pose a significant barrier to competition from others. The interactions between the three have moved each one forward and the sum is more than the parts. Plus, Google’s cloud capabilities beyond the device give it a significant AI advantage, even as Google works with other players in the space, including their own Pixel devices. The close integration leads to improved capability that quickly filters down to the device, to keep interactions more private and secure, as well as reduce latency. Seamless integration between on-device and cloud AI for varying workloads is necessary to maximize functionality and achieve complex results.

Bottom Line: There are of course, other smartphone makers (e.g., Apple, Huawei/Honor, Oppo, Xiaomi, etc.) who command a significant worldwide market share. But so far at least, their AI impact has been small. The new Samsung Galaxy devices have also not yet presented any truly market shattering capabilities, but the features aided by the built in AI capabilities, and mostly run on the device itself for security and privacy, make it a compelling platform for app developers. We should see a number of third party apps emerge in the next 12-24 months that will add dramatic capability to end users and a compelling reason to upgrade to new AI powered devices. But we should remember that even if it says Samsung on the outside, inside it’s a collaborative effort from multiple parties making AI a reality.

Copyright 2025? J.Gold Associates, LLC.

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J.Gold Associates provides advisory services, syndicated research, strategic consulting and in context analysis to help its clients make important technology choices and to enable improved product deployment decisions and go to market strategies. Sign up to receive our newsletter on LinkedIn, and join our mailing list to receive updates on our research and overviews of our reports. Email us at:? info (at) jgoldassociates (dot) com