Samsung targets Galaxy AI on 800 million devices by year-end with multi-provider strategy

Samsung reaffirmed an aggressive goal of putting Galaxy AI on 800 million devices by the close of 2026 — a fourfold jump from 200 million in late 2024 — driven by integrating AI features across both flagship and mid-range Galaxy hardware. The strategy leans on agentic capabilities and an explicitly multi-provider model stack: in-house Gauss and Bixby models combined with Google's Gemini and partners including Perplexity.

Alongside the scaling goal, Samsung launched an AI-powered health assistant that integrates data from smartphone, smartwatch, and smart ring for personalized wellness insights, with beta testing slated for August. A new Vitals feature analyzes overnight heart rate, HRV, and blood oxygen — pushing Samsung into a crowded health-AI market against Apple and Google Fitbit.

The multi-provider posture is strategically notable: rather than betting on a single model, Samsung is hedging across in-house and third-party frontier models, mirroring Microsoft's MAI-plus-OpenAI approach. Google's Gemini remains central — Samsung's new foldables ship with Gemini Notebook pre-installed, and Sundar Pichai highlighted task automation expanding to 40+ apps on Samsung devices.

Skeptics flagged Samsung's reliance on AI-generated imagery at its Unpacked event as drawing criticism, and the sheer device count says little about actual engagement. Watch whether the 800M figure reflects capable devices or merely AI-eligible ones, and how the health assistant fares in beta.