For almost two decades, smartphones have worked pretty much the same way: There is a grid of colourful apps that you tap on. Since last year, a radical change has started, making technology evolve from smartphones to what we may soon call AI phones. One of the first movers in the space has been Samsung, which, since Galaxy S24, has been focusing on reinventing phones with artificial intelligence. This year, the company has put in extra effort towards hastening the shift, something we found out while speaking to Mohan Rao Goli, managing director of SRI-Bengaluru.
Samsung R&D Institute India-Bengaluru is the largest R&D centre of the company outside South Korea and a key innovation hub of the South Korean electronics giant. This is the hub where cutting-edge technology is prepared. And Mohan knows the place inside out. He has spent over 28 years at Samsung in key leadership roles.
“SRI-B started as a small delivery hub and has turned into a very bright innovation powerhouse. We have four technology pillars — wireless communications, computer vision, system software, and Internet of Things. Of course, artificial intelligence is everywhere. Each of the technology pillars is adopting AI and then coming up with meaningful innovations in each of these areas, to provide some unique services, like Samsung Wallet and Samsung Finance+. Some Indian consumer needs are getting addressed through these services,” Mohan said when he met a small group of journalists at SRI-B on Tuesday.
Importance of Galaxy AI
He spoke about the collaborative approach between the company’s many R&D centres spread across the world. It is this collaboration that has helped make a success story out of Galaxy Fold 7 and Flip 7 (“we contributed to various kinds of features under the umbrella of Galaxy AI”).
Galaxy AI is now one of the pillars of all Samsung products. Take the auto-transition feature on the new Flip and Fold, for example. “The Galaxy Fold7 is a slim foldable device, so we have to utilise all the sensors available in the device to switch between the wide sensor to the ultra-wide sensors based on the scene understanding, then make realistic depth estimations. AI wallpaper, for example: You like a certain picture and you want to adapt to make it like a wallpaper on your cover screen or main screen,” Mohan said, whose current favourite is the “audio eraser” that can handle unwanted noise in videos.
But for Galaxy AI to reach the next level, the company is working on languages other than English. “Currently, we support Hindi when it comes to Galaxy AI languages. For example, in Galaxy AI, one of the most used features is the Circle to Search and Live Translate. So, if a person wanted to speak to his French friend, his friend is speaking in French, it can be live translated into Hindi. I can speak in Hindi and it can be live translated into French for my French friend. So, all of this happens during the voice call itself. Whether it is the calling experience, messaging experience, browsing experience, Galaxy AI Assist will provide better productivity, a better experience to Indian consumers,” Mohan pointed out.
We asked him about the challenges when it comes to working with the many languages India has, besides dialects. “We support Hindi and Hinglish, which presents a challenge because people mix Hindi and English while speaking. Similarly, with regional languages also. That is where the challenges are. And some of the named entities, certain Indian monuments or Indian dialects, we have certain kinds of challenges. The good news is that we are overcoming all these challenges with technology. We are using AI to solve these particular challenges.”
Entering the ‘AI era’
Mohan’s contribution to Samsung has been immense. He brings in deep technical expertise in advanced communication R&D encompassing 5G/6G standards and research, 5G terminal and network solution development and deployment in the global ecosystem. He is also an inventor with over 70 patents filed globally in the field of communication networks, next-generation communication and AI in wireless technologies.
Galaxy AI has a bouquet of AI-powered features that make smartphones exciting once more
His current areas of interest include advancements in next-generation communication systems, including AI/ML in wireless, XR. Prior to taking over the role of managing director, he served as the chief technology officer at SRI-B.
Having been around the company for almost three decades, he has seen technology evolve. “One of the key contributions we made was on wireless communications. You might have witnessed 2G to 3G transition, 3G to 4G transition, and now 4G to 5G transition. We played a very important role in this kind of transition by collaborating with the Suwon R&D centre,” Mohan said.
“Another transition is the feature phone to the smartphone transition, which happened during 2000s, when the 4G transition was happening…. Our take on Android, our take on the smartphone, our take on the Galaxy ecosystem created the transition from the feature phone to the smartphone. I think now we are witnessing another such kind of transition, smartphone to the AI phone or smartphone to the AI era.”
The global electronics brand has a unique system when it comes to smartphones: It makes devices that fit a range of economic segments, from budget to ultra-premium. It also tackles the responsibility of offering AI to every price segment, without making sacrifices in the features department.
“We are trying to democratise across Galaxy devices, whether it is smartphones or the Galaxy Book, and so on. But again, it depends on the hardware compute capabilities available in each of these particular devices. So, on our flagship devices, we run all the Galaxy AI-related features, but certain features which are meaningful for the Galaxy A-series phones, we also run them under the platform of Galaxy AI. Depending on market needs, we also try to optimise certain features. So, a lot of research work happens before making the product itself,” Mohan said.
He went on to revisit the early days of Galaxy AI, which started with the S24 device. “We are trying to prepare two ways to further enhance the experience for consumers. One is personalisation. AI has to be personalised for each individual. If AI can provide timely assistance to my personal needs, then my productivity, my experience will improve. Secondly, we are also moving the needle from the smartphone era to the AI phone era. This requires a new platform. AI is becoming the new user interface for consumers. It is a new way to interact with devices. So, that transition we are trying and planning very carefully.”
Bixby is here to stay
It brought us to the question of the future of smartphones. We are moving into an era where voice will be an important tool. We want phones that can handle tasks with voice commands. Samsung already works closely with Google and also has its own voice assistant, Bixby.
“We have a very open-minded approach. We provide Bixby and we also provide Gemini. We ask the consumer to choose what they want. Voice-first, in a way, it is like AI phone. S24 was the starting phone, which we call an AI first-generation phone. When it is going to be completely voice-first, it depends on research breakthroughs. A lot of research is going on at the moment. We had so many tough challenges in front of us to make the AI models run on the device. AI native platforms need to emerge. Then we can think about the completely voice-first phones. A detailed research is going on at the moment.”
Mohan Rao Goli, corporate vice-president and managing director at Samsung R&D Institute India-Bengaluru
What about Bixby when Google’s Gemini is constantly in the news? “Bixby will stay. There are certain people who like Bixby. They are continuously using Bixby and providing feedback. And people are also using Gemini, and then they are also giving feedback on that. It’s all about a consumer’s choice.”
During our long conversation, Mohan made one thing clear: “The smartphone to AI phone transition is going to be much bigger, because the feature phone to smartphone transition did not happen overnight. Smartphone to AI phone transition will happen. Galaxy AI is the platform for that transition to happen.”