Why the Samsung Galaxy S22 Won’t Be Getting Any AI

The Samsung Galaxy S24 series made its debut last week, bringing with it a range of AI-powered innovations. However, there’s been speculation about whether certain existing Samsung devices, such as the Galaxy S23, Galaxy Z Fold 5, and Galaxy Z Flip 5, will also receive the Galaxy AI enhancements in the near future.

One question that has arisen is whether the Samsung Galaxy S22 series, which is less than two years old, will be included in this AI upgrade.

In a recent conversation with TechRadar after the Galaxy Unpacked event in 2024, Patrick Chomet, Samsung’s Head of Customer Experience, shed some light on the matter. He mentioned,

“First of all, bringing these features to the Galaxy S24 series was an extensive undertaking. It was a lot of hard work. To be honest, I’m quite exhausted. TM Roh, the President of Samsung’s mobile division, actually wanted to announce at Unpacked that we’ll be extending Galaxy AI support to Galaxy S23 devices in the first half of this year.”

Chomet went on to explain the company’s approach, stating,

“Our goal is to ensure that our AI experiences can be fully optimized in terms of mobile performance, which involves the CPU and GPU capabilities of the devices. So, at this stage, we’re proceeding cautiously, taking it step by step. We’re confident that Galaxy AI performs excellently on the Galaxy S24 series, and we anticipate similar success with the Galaxy S23 series. However, we’re uncertain about the extent of AI usage among average customers and how it might affect on-device and cloud resources.”

He emphasized, “Our top priority is maintaining the quality and performance of what we deliver. Subsequently, we’ll assess user behavior and fine-tune performance. Our next step will involve expanding Galaxy AI support to a second group of devices, including the S23, S23 FE, Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5, and Tab S9, to observe how it functions.”

When asked about the uniformity of chipsets between the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE and the Samsung Galaxy S22, both of which utilize Samsung’s Exynos 2200 chipset, Chomet acknowledged this fact but added, “For now, we’re limiting Galaxy AI to last-gen devices.”

It’s probable that Samsung’s new Galaxy AI features will be introduced to the mentioned 2023 devices, like the S23, S23 FE, Z Fold 5, through the One UI 6.1 update. However, it appears that the Galaxy S22 series and older models won’t receive the same treatment despite also being eligible for the One UI 6.1 update.

Chomet was careful to use phrases like “for now” and “step-by-step” when discussing future Galaxy AI compatibility. Nevertheless, given Samsung’s view of these new features as integral to the “flagship Galaxy experience,” it’s unlikely that the Galaxy S22 will receive further attention down the line, especially with more Samsung products set to be unveiled in 2024.