There, they were sitting, the three proud parents of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Samsung, Google and Qualcomm. Samsung plays the most important parental role, but all three gave a helping hand in the creation of what is probably more a mobile device of AI than a simple smartphone.
Jay Kim, Executive Vice-President and Head of the Samsung Customer Experience Office, Sameer Samat, President of Google for the Android ecosystem, and Christopher Patrick, Vice-President Director and Managing Director of Qualcomm for mobile phones, A gathered on stage one day after the official festivities of Samsung Unpacked, during which the company presented its new range. of combined Galaxy S25 (four in all if you count the S25 EDGE teased).
The group has talked about their close partnership for a long time and the practical aspects of creating an AI phone. Samsung provides the design and most of the equipment, but it is Google that provides the Subsystem, Android, the Gemini generative assistant and the Gemini models on which many generative features of the phone are based. Finally, Qualcomm provided the phone from the phone to be a custom version of its fastest mobile chip: the Snapdragon Gen 8 Elite for Galaxy.
The group was led by analyst Bob O’Donnell de Techalysis and joined by Dr. Chris Brauer, director of innovation at the University of London and Symmetry.
The group has described many night phone calls and an almost constant discussion on how to integrate AI into the mobile system. Google is deeply invested in the Samsung experience and its success, giving Samsung an early access to all the latest gemini models and features.
This is why the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, which I am currently testing, has the latest edition of Circle To Search which can also identify sounds in videos and why the latest version of Gemini Advanced is available on all S25 phones in form six months’ trial. This triple partnership allows Qualcomm to build a special nucleus on the Snapdragon Gen 8 Elite to locally host the Samsung personal data engine.
This partnership also allows my S25 Ultra to transmit a single prompt via the owners of Google and Samsung. This means that only one request can access Google and Samsung Calendar, Youtube and Samsung Notes research.
And this is how the lateral button of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series is now a Gemini button.
A question of confidence
Google Samat said that working in such a close collaboration required a level of confidence between organizations and in -depth collaboration on every detail of the hardware and software experience.
Samat admitted: “We often disagree. There was a disagreement over the duration during which it is necessary to press the button before the assistant appears.
However, the group did not enter the specific details. What we know is that it may take a second and a half after a long pressure for the Gemini to appear. Did Google want a longer pressure? Samsung a shorter? We may never know, but it is clear that they have managed to solve it satisfactorily.
As Samat noted, “a productive disagreement on product design is necessary”.
For his part, Patrick de Qualcomm also mentioned “night calls and occasional disagreements”.
When asked what prevents them from sleeping at night, Kim de Samsung joked: “Apart from Samir’s call – the same thing on the side of Qualcomm – I never sleep. »»
The promising and intimidating future of AI
Throughout the group, they are shocked-and perhaps a little intimidated-by the pace of change. “I have been working in this area for over 20 years and I have never seen the kind of progress we are currently experiencing,” said Samat.
Patrick de Qualcomm said that he hoped that as indistinguishable, “we have the will to do what it takes to work together, and sometimes you need natural competitors to work together”.
This group and industry have work to do. Dr. Brauer, who followed the industry, presented new figures showing a dazzling increase in consumer interest in just six months. A study carried out in July of last year, at the time of the launch of the Galaxy AI, revealed that 16 % of consumers identified themselves as frequent and intensive AI users. Today, this figure is 27 %.
It seems that to respond to this request, partnership – disagreements and everything – is only just beginning.
