Samsung is turning to its Indian research and development (R&D) hub to spearhead the development of a voice-first AI experience for its upcoming smartphones, signalling a strategic shift as competition with Apple and Google heats up.

At a media roundtable in Bengaluru on August 26, Mohan Rao, corporate vice-president and managing director of Samsung R&D Institute India – Bengaluru (SRI-B), said the local centre would play a pivotal role in shaping Samsung’s next generation of AI-powered Galaxy devices.

Rao also did not reveal the number of engineers employed in Samsung’s research and development unit in India or the company’s yearly investment in the region. 

Additionally, Samsung did not comment on the government’s recently introduced ₹1 trillion incentive program aimed at enhancing private R&D expenditures, as reported by Mint. 

Samsung has been steadily expanding its AI capabilities across its Galaxy ecosystem. With Apple unveiling Apple Intelligence earlier this year and Google embedding Gemini across Pixel devices, Samsung’s move highlights the intensifying race to define the future of mobile AI.

“AI is going to be the new user interface. The way people interact with devices will fundamentally change in the AI era,” he told Hindustan Times, hinting at Samsung’s long-term focus on creating “AI phones” with hybrid on-device and cloud-based models.

While Rao did not disclose timelines for launch, he noted that Indian teams were already working on models optimised for low-latency and on-device processing. 

“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 and then bring these natural language ASRs to run very nicely. Then we can think about the completely voice-first phones,” he added.

The South Korean conglomerate was among the first global consumer technology brands to establish R&D in India. In contrast, Apple has not yet started research operations there, while Google opened an AI research facility in Bengaluru six years ago.

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