Samsung has said a broad rollout of artificial intelligence tools to its mobile devices has sparked a rise in the number of people in the UK switching to the firm from Apple’s iPhone.
The Korean phone maker began rolling out its suite of AI tools – known as Galaxy AI – in January and has brought it to a range of phones and tablets, including the last three generations of its flagship S Series phones and its two most recent, lower priced, mid-range FE handsets.
In contrast, the Apple Intelligence suite of AI tools is yet to launch on the iPhone 16 range which went on sale last month, and will also only be accessible on the top tier iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max from last year’s range, as well as only two of its most recent tablets.
A Samsung UK executive said the company has seen a more than 40% rise in customers switching from Apple handsets to Samsung in the UK since it launched Galaxy AI.
A beta version of the Apple tools is due to roll out this month ahead of a launch in English in December, with other languages to follow over the next year.
But users in the EU are not currently set to be able to access the tools on iPhone or iPad, as Apple remains in a standoff with the European Union over new competition rules under the Digital Markets Act.
Annika Bizon, marketing and omnichannel director for mobile at Samsung UK and Ireland, told the PA news agency: “AI should be for everyone. We don’t believe in gatekeeping it for our most premium smartphones on the market.
“That’s why we are rolling it out to the broadest audience possible – bringing AI to tablets for the first time with the Tab S10 and launching the most affordable AI phone on the market with the S24 FE.
“People want to see tangible upgrades when they invest in a smartphone and we are seeing more people make the switch over to Samsung.
“In fact, in the UK we’ve seen a 42% increase in customers moving to us from iOS since launching Galaxy AI.”
Both companies’ suite of tools include AI-powered features to help with writing and editing text, image editing and generation, as well as recording, transcribing and summarising calls and audio.
Smartphone makers have started introducing the features in response to the generative AI boom sparked by the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022.
