A report earlier this week said the Galaxy S9 may not come with a 3D facial recognition system similar to Apple’s iPhone X, although Samsung is already looking to equip 2018 devices with 3D sensors. The same report claimed that the Galaxy S9 will not have too many features to differentiate it from the previous generation, although the phone is expected to pack better hardware and deliver a better camera experience.
A Samsung exec even went on record to say that the Galaxy S9’s best feature might be Samsung’s software innovations. “Although the Galaxy S9 may not have the innovative features expected by the market, we are focusing on enhancing the completeness of the Galaxy S8 hardware and an innovative user experience (UX),” that person said.
A new leak tells us more about that “innovative user experience.”
I have absolutely no idea what “the completeness of the Galaxy S8 hardware” means, given that the Galaxy Note 8, which sports exactly the same hardware, does better in performance tests than the Galaxy S8.
The real innovation might be on the software side, at least the part that’s controlled by Samsung. Gone are the days when Samsung software on Android devices meant a bunch of bloatware that users hated. Samsung still doesn’t control the underlying software of its smartphones, and it’s dependent on Google’s innovations. But the company polished the user interface that sits on top of Android and plans to introduce new features next year.
Prominent Chinese leaker Ice Universe posted on Twitterthe following image: https://twitter.com/UniverseIce/status/932919492497235968
It’s apparently a presentation of Samsung’s Galaxy AI UX, with the Bixby logo also clearly present.
We have no idea what Galaxy AI UX is, but it certainly has something to do with artificial intelligence and machine learning. After all, everybody else is doing it, including Google and Apple on their devices. We can safely assume that Galaxy AI UX will bring over various AI features and automation to future Galaxy devices, including the Galaxy S9. Samsung’s flagship phones may become smarter, and more aware of what’s happening around them, offering a customized user experience that may take into account various factors, including device usage, location, and time of day.
I’d also expect all these smart Galaxy S9 features to be served under the Bixby assistant, which is Samsung’s own response to Google’s Assistant and Apple’s Siri.
Samsung is yet to unveil its Galaxy AI UX to the world, although the image below does suggest the company did present it to at least a few people recently. The leaker doesn’t say where the picture was taken and doesn’t offer other images.
In closing, we’ll also address the tweet above, posted on Monday. Apparently, Ice Universe also believes that Samsung is interested in 3D face recognition components, even though I have no idea what he meant to say.
