Samsung has made a big deal about Galaxy AI being the future of its devices, with the S24 being the first official series of phones to see the technology embedded. However, Samsung did confirm that some Galaxy AI features would be on older phones, but now we know that the list will be very short.
While the S24 release date seems like an appealing time to upgrade your bruised and battered smartphone, the Galaxy S22 series, which debuted only two years ago back in 2022, is still going strong, with promises of four major updates to the device in total. Considering we're only on One UI 6.0, the S22 still has two more updates in it.
However, it won't be getting the sparkly new AI features that the 2023 and 2024 line up of phones from Samsung offer. According to TechRadar, which spoke to Head of Customer Experience at Samsung, Patrick Chomet, confirmed it's 2022 phones won't be getting the Galaxy AI features. At least, not yet.
Confirming to TechRadar, Chomet said "We want to ensure that, over time, our AI experiences can be supported by [mobile] performance, which leads to CPU and GPU capability", before saying "Number one, we want to secure the quality and the performance of what we deploy. Then we will learn how people use [these features] and tune the performance. Number two, we will deploy [Galaxy AI] on a second set of devices – specifically, the S23, S23 FE, Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5 and Tab S9 – to see how it works."
TechRadar questioned about the fact that the S23 FE and the S22, which both use the Exynos 2200 chipset, and Chomet replied "For now, we’re limiting Galaxy AI to last-gen devices". That means that the Z Flip and Z Fold 4 phones, as well as any other 2022 Samsung handsets, also won't receive the Galaxy AI.
It's likely that Galaxy AI will make its way to Samsung's 2023 phones when the One UI 6.1 update finally drops, alongside the new Galaxy S24 line up. Unfortunately, even S24 users don't get Galaxy AI for free after a few years, so at least S22 users will avoid a subscription fee after 2025.
It wouldn't be too surprising if Galaxy AI is locked to newer phones, with potentially S25 and later have better AI features that are exclusive to each series, as it could be a way to push sales. However, we'll have to see how good the Galaxy AI is when the S24 Plus release date and S24 Ultra release date finally arrives.