Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Apple, Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, others plan to ‘double down’ on artificial intelligence

Kyle Wiggers
By

facebook convolutional translation ai
Image used with permission by copyright holder
When it comes to smartphones, voice and app controls apparently aren’t enough anymore. According to DigitTimes, Apple, Samsung, Huawei, LG, and Xiaomi plan to “double down” on the development of artificial intelligence features on mobile in order to help “ramp up market shares” in the coming months.

Apple is developing an “enhanced Siri,” the report claims, reportedly via its acquisition of machine learning and AI startup Turi. DigiTimes didn’t go into specifics, but says the improved voice assistant will feature “improved voice recognition,” enhanced “reliability,” and “better contextual understanding” of common requests. It will debut on an upcoming iPhone, either this year’s iPhone 8 or next year’s model.

Recommended Videos

An improved Siri platform would no doubt benefit the company’s long-rumored home speaker. The hardware voice assistant, which reportedly features a microphone and speaker array like Google’s Home and Amazon’s Echo, is expected to be able to play music, control smart-home devices compatible with Apple’s HomeKit platform, and set reminders and alarms.

Related

Samsung, for its part, is expected to launch the Galaxy S8 in the coming months alongside an AI assistant code-named Bixby. It’s powered by technology the company acquired in its purchase of Viv, an artificial intelligence startup founded by much of the same engineering team responsible for Apple’s Siri, and it’s reportedly capable of conversational language and third-party integrations that perform tasks, dictate messages, and respond to queries on demand. According to more recent reports, Bixby’s processing chops will power image analysis and object identification.

Huawei, the world’s third-largest smartphone maker by volume, is reportedly prepping an expansion of its third- and first-party AI efforts. It recently launched the Mate 9 in the United States with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant pre-installed.

And it took the wraps off the Honor Magic in December, an AI-powered smartphone that intelligently recommends movies, launches driving modes, shows information like an incoming Uber’s license plate number, and reveals text message notifications only when it recognizes the owner’s likeness.

LG is said to be in talks with both Google and Amazon to incorporate elements of the companies’ respective AI assistants into several of its upcoming products. It introduced Alexa-powered home appliances earlier this year, and its next flagship smartphone, the LG G6, will reportedly be the first beyond the Pixel to feature the Google Assistant.

Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi launched an AI discovery lab in November, and is said to have invested “heavily” in machine learning. “Our artificial intelligence technology will be everywhere,” co-founder and vice-president Wong Kong Kat told the South China Morning Post on Wednesday. “Even a chair can be smart enough to understand you and move to where you would be seated.”

Even startups are investing resources in AI research and development. Andy Rubin, Google’s former head of Android, is reportedly aiming to launch a smartphone in mid-2017 with unspecified machine-learning features. “In order for AI to blossom and fulfill consumer needs, it has to be about data,” he said in June.

Plans are subject to change, of course, but one thing’s for certain: Our smartphones are about to get a whole lot smarter.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Kyle Wiggers
Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
Hey Samsung, the Apple Watch Ultra is how you make a real adventure smartwatch
Someone wearing the Apple Watch Ultra while climbing.

See the Apple Watch Ultra, Samsung? That’s how you make an adventure smartwatch. Multiple specific features, a robust design, and Apple’s typically effective marketing mean the Watch Ultra will likely be outdoorsy people’s first stop — not the tepid Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, which is a premium Galaxy Watch 5 masquerading as a rugged wearable for the explorer.
The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro isn't very pro
The way Samsung pitched the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro was baffling. Although the titanium case and sapphire crystal make it more durable than the standard Galaxy Watch 5, it doesn’t have the required feature set to be a true Garmin, Polar, Suunto, or Coros competitor. Anyone using a smartwatch in the wilderness, under the water, or up a mountain will have a checklist of crucial features that make it worth wearing.

Unfortunately, a slightly bigger battery, compatibility with GPX files, and a way to route back home aren’t going to be enough. Even so, that’s really all that separates the Pro from the normal Galaxy Watch 5.

Read more
The EU wants Apple and Samsung to make more repairable phones, improve battery efficiency
Repairing a Samsung phone

Environmental sustainability has been a hot-button issue for quite some time now and that's not changing any time soon. The European Union is looking to pass a new law that requires tech manufacturers to meet certain sustainability requirements before launching new devices. A trade association that represents the biggest names in tech — including Apple, Google, and Samsung — is pushing back on the legislation.

According to The Financial Times, the legislation would require manufacturers to provide additional spare parts for device repairs for at least five years following the device's launch. It also calls on companies to improve battery life so that batteries can survive 500 full charges before dipping below 83% capacity. Additionally, the law aims to make all devices display an energy effectiveness rating similar to those found in other common appliances.

Read more
Google, Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus camera test exposes poor performers
The Pixel 6, iPhone SE, Galaxy A53, and Nord 2T camera modules.

The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G has five cameras on the back, the OnePlus Nord 2T has three, the Google Pixel 6 has two, and the Apple iPhone SE (2022) has just one camera. Surely, due to these differences, it would be a very unfair fight to compare them all?

That's precisely what we wanted to find out! Let's take a look and see if having multiple cameras on your phone really makes a difference to photo quality, or if those extra sensors are little more than fluff.
The phones and cameras
It may look like the phones in the test aren’t really competing with each other, but if you’ve got somewhere around $500 or 500 British pounds to spend, then these will likely all show up in your search. We’re not going to compare the hardware here, and are instead going to concentrate only on camera performance. To do that, we should first look at the camera specs on each phone before we get to the photos.

Read more