Mea culpa, I tried to offer the Galaxy S24 a little tough love. I thought I was being logical, even correct. No, I was wrong when I said that every iPhone was a better buy than Samsung's flagship S24.
In fact, after testing the AI features and learning about Apple's intelligence plans, I'm especially impressed by what Samsung offers in the Galaxy S24 that Apple won't give iPhone 15 owners.
Why was I? so bad with the Galaxy S24? I don't want to dwell on his flaws; It is not about that. It's about saying that I was wrong.
However, I was feeling very down on Samsung's software and have more than a professional interest in it. I personally have Samsung phones and have recommended them. My dad wears a Galaxy S22. He is afraid to upgrade to an AI phonebut little by little I'm changing my mind.
Then Apple's iOS 17 was released and it's really great. It is useful, social and innovative. It has features that Apple ultimately stole from Android and features that I wish Android would steal.
Between the new Safety Check In, contact cards, proximity sharing features, StandBy mode and everything else, it really feels like Apple has arrived at a completely modern mobile operating system, leaving Android behind.
Sure, StandBy is cool, but have you seen an AI moon?
Then comes AI. I was initially skeptical about smartphone AI. In my reviews of the first AI phones, the Pixel 8 Pro and Galaxy S24 UltraI called these features silly or creepy, but then I dug deeper.
While writing TechRadar's list of the best AI phones, I tested the latest AI features extensively. I skipped the extraneous, extraneous features and focused on the useful stuff, and it turns out that smartphone AI is really useful.
There's no need to wait for Apple Intelligence, the next Snapdragon chips, or new big language models. AI makes today's phones better, and for the AI tools I actually use, the Galaxy S24 is one of the best phones you can buy.
Right now, there are five or six very useful AI tools on smartphones, including AI camera enhancements, generative AI photo editing, generative AI writing, AI voice assistants, AI language translation, and General AI interface improvements and suggestions.
The first AI feature we considered in a smartphone was “magical” photo editing in Google Photos. Photo editing tools are the most common AI feature on smartphones, and even phone makers that eschew AI, like OnePlus, have some form of AI photo editing.
There are also AI tools that help the camera, and Samsung has been using AI to optimize scenes in its Camera app for a while. Those amazing AI moon photos you can take with the Galaxy S24 Ultra owe their perfect exposure and color settings to AI, which identifies the subject and adjusts accordingly.
Even if the less expensive Galaxy S24 doesn't have the same zoom lens as the Galaxy S24 Ultra, it still has AI that helps the camera and smart shooting modes make Samsung cameras more fun. Photos tend to look better when I use a Galaxy phone, especially food and long-distance photos.
Generative writing is much newer than photo AI tools, but AI can take your writing and rewrite it in a new style. You can ask Samsung's Galaxy AI to rewrite an email and it will give you options in a formal, casual or emoji-laden tone.
The Google Pixel 8 can do the same, but Samsung's Galaxy S24 is much better at rewriting messages. The Pixel often created messages that I found embarrassing, but Samsung's AI was helpful enough that I used its suggestions in my personal messages to avoid sounding terse or when I was picking on my teenager.
Samsung becomes a leader in artificial intelligence for smartphones
Samsung's lead so far is significant. Artificial intelligence tools, especially large language models, seem to be developing exponentially. If Samsung has an advantage now, it may be able to push it further as its AI models evolve with Galaxy AI.
One feature you probably think needs more AI is Samsung's Bixby voice assistant. Except, when I tried Bixby vs. Siri and Google Gemini, Bixby was already by far the most effective voice assistant. Samsung calls Bixby 'AI', but it was invented before current advances in large language models. Still, it is far ahead of the competition and there is a lot of technological room for improvement.
So, Samsung has the best voice assistant, the best AI writing tools, and the best AI camera improvements. We're still testing different smartphone AI language translations to determine which is best, but Samsung representatives tell us that Galaxy AI can translate between 16 different languages. Google's Pixel Live Translate can only handle a dozen.
Apple handed over AI leadership to Samsung, for now…
Samsung's Galaxy AI features are not only available on the latest Galaxy S24 family. You can use Live Translate even if you have a Galaxy S23 or a Galaxy S22. You can use most of the new AI features with the 2023 and 2022 Galaxy Z foldable phones and the Galaxy Tab S8 and Galaxy Tab S9 tablets from the last two years.
It's an incredible level of support, especially compared to the competition.
That's where Samsung really changed its mind. Rather, I would say that Apple changed its mind when it announced Apple Intelligence and stated that the new features would only reach the iPhone 15 Pro and better.
As far as we know, if you buy a new iPhone 15 today (Apple's latest iPhone model), it will never work with the new Apple Intelligence features.
Are the tables finally turning? Samsung already offers seven years of major operating system updates for its latest phones. Apple only offers five years, and if you didn't spend at least $999 / £949 / AU$1,849 on an iPhone 15 Pro, you won't get any REALLY cool stuff.
The things that everyone talks about. The things that dominated the news from Apple's WWDC 2024, Google I/O 2024, and whatever parties Samsung throws for developers in 2024.
If you're buying a new phone today and are interested in AI features, I wouldn't recommend buying an iPhone 15 or any older iPhone model that Apple still sells. Buy a Galaxy S24 instead.
