Samsung's Jay Kim and JB Park on foldables, intelligent eyewear and the pace at which AI models keep changing

A couple of days after Samsung unfolded its eighth-generation foldables in London — the Galaxy Z Fold8, the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Flip8, alongside the Galaxy Watch Ultra2, the Galaxy Watch9 and an early look at its intelligent eyewear built with Google — a small group of journalists from India sat down with two of the men who are well versed with the ins and outs of the tech industry.

Jay Kim is corporate EVP, head of customer experience office, MX division, Samsung Electronics. He oversees product and experience planning across Galaxy devices, platforms and newer categories such as immersive products and AI. Before this, he led the Strategic Partnership Team that built the Galaxy ecosystem alongside platform companies including Google, Microsoft and Meta, having earlier held planning and sales roles at Samsung Electronics America. Keeping him company was JB Park, president and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia. The last few days have made him feel over the moon as India responded to the new foldables with the sort of numbers that make a launch overwhelmingly successful: more than 271,000 pre-orders in 72 hours, against the 15 days it took last year's Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7 to reach a comparable figure. Forty-five per cent of those pre-orders came from tier II cities and beyond.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra on display at an event in London. Picture: The Telegraph / Mathures Paul

The conversation gathered pace with a question from The Telegraph about time, specifically, whose clock the industry is now running on.

AI models are improving every six to seven months, while hardware changes are happening every year, maybe two years. Is that scenario encouraging Samsung to speed up hardware and software changes, or is it becoming a challenge to keep up with models that need more memory, or different hardware altogether?

Jay Kim laughed before answering. "I'm glad that you didn't say weeks…that's the pace that we're dealing with. If you say six months, it's actually very comforting."

Then he unpacked the problem. "This is a very interesting question because AI, depending on how you define AI — there's cloud-based AI, on-device AI, app-based AI, and there's OS-based AI," he said. "AI is depending on even the chipset, depending on what layer you're talking because AI affects every layer of the stack that we're working."

The answer, he suggested, is that no single company sets the tempo any more. "But the important part of the hardware is memory and AP and chipset — we work with partners so it's not just us looking at the industry. At Unpacked, you saw Qualcomm, Google, and Samsung working on how to bring AI into the Android ecosystem. And from the chipset to OS layer to hardware to UX and UI, we work with them and we plan ahead for year two to see how to sustain the pace of the evolution of AI."

Samsung's own approach, he said, has been to arrive ahead of the platform. "We did Android 17 this year. We applied it on Galaxy S26 before Android 17 came, which means that we're actually foreseeing what's coming next, and we're applying it earlier. So, we're actually moving faster than what the platform is doing, as we're moving first, and then applying that to the ecosystem, and then gradually going up."

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra (left) and Galaxy Z Fold8. Picture: The Telegraph / Mathures Paul

But raw speed, he argued, is the less interesting half of the equation. "Technology itself will move fast, but for that technology to apply to the features and get to the consumer, it takes time. So that area is more important."

There is also the small matter of how many things Samsung now has to keep in step. "How do we adapt for consumers to use our devices? We are going to gradually manage how we bring AI to our device, not only mobiles, but there's wearables, and there're so many other devices that we need to manage," he said. "Oftentimes, people just talk about foundation model, multimodal, all the models that gets better. But, you know, that will continue. We'll work with our partners to make sure that we apply that (the new models), so it's a collective effort."

His conclusion was almost a caution against being pulled along by the industry's own hype cycle: "We will continue to see how we pace it, not in a way that technology is moving along. We'll just make sure that it comes in the right way on devices for the consumers to use it more safely."

JB Park offered a historical parallel. "At the global unpack, we saw the partnership with Qualcomm and Google. What it reminded me is of the past years, when Intel and Microsoft used to always operate their clock speed and their OS on PC," he said. "The minimum requirement to use the software is given, right? You have to operate your RAM, GPU, modem. That's how technology evolves. How fast it will go is depending on the ecosystem or the industry or the software apps that are going to support the new tech. Samsung has partnered with Qualcomm and Google to create the best experience based on the technology advancement and I think that's how we have to cope with it."

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8. Picture: The Telegraph / Mathures Paul

Novelty versus habit

Two years on from the launch of Galaxy AI on the Galaxy S24, the more uncomfortable question is whether any of it has become habit rather than party trick.

"When we first launched Galaxy AI in 2024 on the Galaxy S24, we looked at three areas — are the AI features meaningful, are they easy to access and are they safe?" Kim said. "To understand these, we went through consumer studies basis which we applied AI features to our key services."

Partnerships came first. "We worked with partners, starting with Google because of the platform. Some of the most used AI features are related to Gemini. For example, the Circle to Search feature helps consumers search very intuitively on their screens and it is one of the most popular AI features."

In-house, the pattern is broadly creative. "Among internal features, consumers are enjoying the way they can edit their photos with Photo Assist. The Creative Studio is helping consumers create new content based on their interests. Call Assist and Live Translate are also among the most used features globally."

Adoption data, he stressed, is a starting point rather than a scorecard. "We're seeing how consumers are adopting AI features, but we don't stop there. We actually continue to improve the UX-UI so that it (AI adoption) gets easier. AI has to be meaningful, easy to access and definitely safe. So, based on this strategic approach, we're constantly improving Galaxy AI features which has resulted in better adoption."

Nor does every feature get judged by how often it is opened. "Not all features are measured in the same way. For some AI features, frequent usage is important, but some others may not be frequently used but are needed at important times. So, we're looking at different features in different ways to measure the success of the features. I think the consumers are getting used to how they use our features."

Jay Kim, corporate EVP, head of customer experience office, MX division, Samsung Electronics

Then came the line that explains Samsung's stand on the subject. "We don't need our consumers to understand whether this (benefit) is coming from AI. They just need to understand that what they want to get done, we just make sure that they get it done," Kim said. "So, we're not really focusing on AI per se. We're focusing on what consumers want and how can we get that task done without friction. Whether it's coming from AI or from simple structures, consumers don't care. That's our philosophical approach to AI — for the consumers to feel less obligated to think about AI."

Park picked up the thread with a concrete example from the newest device. "Consumer don't have to know about the functioning of AI, and that's why we call it Agentic AI. It's supposed to assist you based on your requirements — whether it's entertainment, productivity, or editing," he said.

"For example, if you look at the just-launched Galaxy Z Fold8, we've introduced a new editing feature called My FanCam, which automatically analyzes the movement of the main subject – for example your kid — that you selected and it intelligently reframes videos in a way that captures your kid in the center, providing an editing experience optimized for Fold8's large display. In the past, we had to rely on professionals to do these kinds of a job. So, the AI functionality is evolving. And there are many use cases that the consumer will come up with and give feedback to us, and we will try to make solutions based on consumer requirements."

The memory crunch

The mood turned to economics. With memory prices climbing, will flagship discounting shrink — and how ready is India for the festive season?

Park was cautious. "There is about 15 per cent degrowth in the Indian market due to the rise in material cost in the first half of this year. The second half is expected to be challenging, too, as the memory crunch is getting severe," he said. "However, Samsung will try to absorb as much as possible, giving the best value of the product. During the coming festive season, we will try to provide affordable solutions to customers, whether it's interest-free EMI or a festive discount. We are focussed on offering as much support as we can to consumers in India."

The pricing of the new range sets the context. In India, the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra starts at Rs 1,99,999, the Galaxy Z Fold8 at Rs 1,79,999 and the Galaxy Z Flip8 at Rs 1,24,999, all three available with a 30-month, zero-down-payment no-cost EMI option.

JB Park, CEO and president, Samsung Southwest Asia

On-device, cloud, and the choice between them

As data regulations tighten across markets, does more of the processing inevitably move to the device?

Kim said: "From our studies and from our discussions with our partners, I can tell you that it's not about us pushing the industry in a certain direction. It's more about how consumers will consume, based on their needs."

Samsung's answer is deliberately hybrid. "Our approach to AI is hybrid, so a lot of our services run on local (on-device). Consumers are aware of this, but do they really care? Many times, they don't, but they're happy with the service. But we'll continue to improve so that consumers can feel safe that it's only running on-device."

Scaling that is the constraint. "But (improve) in a way that you need to actually upgrade the system — all the chips and everything that you run on the device. Then in order for us to scale it, it has to have a certain sort of criteria to scale the service," he said. "So basically, it's one area that we have to manage…how do we scale the service to all our consumers that we have in the market so that we need to pace that. So, we'll continue to improve the on-device."

The cloud, equally, is not going anywhere. "At the same time, there is a model where consumers need deeper thinking, referencing and getting access to the global data. And, that's more on the cloud side. So, that will also continue."

He didn’t put a number on the split. "We don't think that we can actually define what percentage is on device and what percentage is in the cloud. I think that will depend on the consumer. Our job is to make sure that depending on what your need is, we provide whether it's on-device or in the cloud. Make sure that they use it easily without any friction, but with comfort in mind. I think that's our job from my perspective to make sure that we provide a safe environment for both choices."

The same balancing act runs down the price ladder, where flagship silicon is not available. "It's a difficult question and we don't have the right answer, but we know what to do," Kim said of keeping the experience consistent across devices with very different computing power. "The important part to address it is to make sure that we have a hybrid model where cloud will manage everything so that you have access to many different devices. If we focus too much on on-device then the hardware dependency becomes critical."

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8, Galaxy Z Fold8 and Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra. Picture: The Telegraph / Mathures Paul

Samsung runs two tiers. "We have Galaxy AI (for flagships) and the we have Awesome Intelligence for mass tier and how do we manage in between. The flagships definitely have a lot of on-device capabilities based on the chipset. The Awesome Intelligence is more towards how do we manage it so that it connects to the cloud to leverage (AI) but at the same time the basic needs that we have (to address through on-device)."

Internally, there is a word for pushing flagship capability downwards. "We are trying to make sure to bring…internally we're just calling it cascading…the model on the flagship to the mass segment. The fundamental approach is of hybrid model and how to manage that in between."

What India actually uses

Asked which Galaxy AI features Indian users have taken to, Park pointed away from the obvious answers.

"The popular AI features used by Indian consumers are not limited to photo or video editing. One of the features built by our R&D centres in Noida and Bengaluru addresses the issue of background noise," he said. "When you take or make a call from an environment with loud noise, the Voice Focus mode detects and switches on the mode without the person to have to manually change the setting. That's being managed by AI."

Language has been the other front. "When it comes to language AI, we integrated the Hindi language into Galaxy AI right from the start in 2024. After that, Gujarati has already launched. The addition of these two languages to Galaxy AI is a significant milestone in our mission to democratize AI in India, which has a diverse linguistic landscape with many official languages and thousands of dialects."

"Native speakers in Hindi and Gujarati are now using popular Galaxy AI features such as Call Assist and Interpreter – all powered by our advanced on-device AI technology. We are also working on expanding Galaxy AI's linguistic reach," he said, crediting the Indian engineering base directly. "This has been made possible through the efforts of our research centres in Noida and Bengaluru, which have played a pivotal role in the development of Galaxy AI. The important role of Indian research centres significantly improved Hindi performance in our New AI features."

Where the differentiation sits

Samsung was using machine learning in cameras and battery management long before anyone marketed it. Does that history point towards a proprietary, Samsung-only AI stack?

"Yes, we have been doing a lot of, whether you call it foundation model, but before that we did machine learning and all the required technology on our devices, even at our server side. So, it's not new, but I think it's the technology breakthrough that got to the point where it's actually impacting consumers," Kim said. "So, if it's not impacting consumers, then we do everything behind the scenes. But if it's actually gotten to the technology level where it's actually influencing how consumer use our device, then it actually means something for the industry. I think that tipping point was 2023, when the foundation model came."

He remembers the scepticism. "At that time, it was early stage and everybody was trying to understand how to manage that. Even looking at the subscription model, nobody thought that people would pay $20 a month to use AI. It was very surprising at that time. But now everybody feels comfortable, paying for using AI, and token is becoming an issue. So, it's moving quickly and faster. And actually, it's influencing how consumers are reacting to it."

The moat, in his telling, is a combination rather than a single asset. "Two areas — One is we have the best model working with partners. Regardless of what model it is, we work the best. That combines with our service. That combination will provide the best service out there. Whether it's differentiated or whether it's first or whether it's more relevant and or the quality of the service. That will continue to be our differentiator. Always."

"The second part is the flagship models. You saw our all-new Fold 8 with a new form factor that is lighter and thinner than the ultra-model. Our devices will have the best hardware with the best system in the market. Combined with all the services, the best services that we have, that combination will be hard for competitors to catch up with. So, we feel very comfortable that we'll have a very strong lead there. And the mobile will be the centre of all the experiences we'll have as a computing power."

Picture: The Telegraph / Mathures Paul

The glasses, and the argument for eye level

It is here that Kim, who has spent more than a decade watching the XR industry, became noticeably animated.

"Then where we're looking at having the mobile as a computing hub. I'm personally looking at wearables where AI is extending to the wearable devices. Not to move away from phones," he said. "It's more of providing consumers, different experience where you don't need to always go to the phone to get things done. We want consumers to use their time more in something that you want to use. So, glasses are a very good example."

"I personally have been looking at XR industry for more than 10 years — went from XR to looking at glasses. And you saw the product yesterday. I personally started that project with our partners. And, I think what you have in the market as a glasses experience, I don't think there are more intelligent glasses."

His pitch is that the camera's position, not the display, is the point. "The one that we're preparing has a very strong intelligence capability on the glasses that will actually differentiate how you use glasses today as a smart glass. If you use the one that we have, it will be the intelligent eyewear glass. Two, it will have a very close connection to our hub in the phone. All the phones, the information that you have on your phone, how do you get access to it? Through your glasses, you have camera that is looking at your eyesight level, which means that they understand what you're looking at. They know the context and they will provide the right information at the right time."

"It's more of a different way of interacting with the world without moving away from it. There are a lot of things and this will be a very hard thing for other companies to manage. And, you know, we have a very close collaboration with Google and Qualcomm to make sure that we bring that intelligent experience on the glasses."

Pressed on whether the smartphone remains the epicentre of AI, or whether that shifts, Kim widened the frame. "We only showed three categories (phones, watches and glasses), but we have many more. In the AI era, we're looking at how our consumers engage with AI and through what devices. The mobile (phone) is definitely the one on the go but the PC is another area because you get a lot of things done more productively. So, these two devices are very important and I think they will continue as the primary hub as main devices."

The watch, he said, earns its place through data. "The watches have a sensor that's always with you that collects a lot of data related to your health and that connects to managing your wellness and that's the one area that we think is very important and the industry will continue to evolve. It's more sleep, heart and exercising…how do you manage your conditions and wellness and that will continue to evolve."

The glasses earn theirs through position. "If it's Buds, it will just connect with the phone and it will know, but what's unique about glasses is your hands are free, your head is up but there's a camera that sits right next to your eye level and this is very important. People just don't think too much but having the glass on your eye level means it understands what you're looking at. It actually can tell you what you need at that point and it could be agentic or it could be different ways but it will serve as a very important interface input and output towards your mobile phones."

Which leads to the harder engineering constraint — and a design one. "In order for a consumer to use glasses, it has to be light and it has to be comfortable. Two, it has to be fashionable or it has to suit you because it's on your face. The biggest value you have as a person is the face because that's the first thing you see. So, it has to be very stylish and it has to suit you and then it has to be comfortable for you."

Picture: The Telegraph / Mathures Paul

Hence the eyewear partners — Gentle Monster and Warby Parker among them. "That's why we came together with different eyewear partners to make sure that we understand the industry. Eyeglasses have to be light weight, which means you have to put all the processing power on the phone so that you have a very strong split computing algorithm. For the glasses to last long, we need to make sure that it sleeps, wakes up, and understands where it's coming. It's a complicated device and I don't think the industry has really addressed that in right way and that's the point that we're trying to address."

None of which, he insisted, demotes the phone. "But in order for these devices to work and these devices to be comfortable and fit, the processing power has to be offloaded somewhere else. That's why the mobile phone is very important and it will continue to be there. But how do you interact with your mobile could change. You don't need to always go there, that behaviour will change."

He finished with something close to a mission statement. "What we're trying to solve for consumers is how do we add value to your everyday life. That's more important than asking consumers to come to the phone every time you need something. So, we're just trying to make sure that we're addressing those issues and I think I can do it better than anybody else in the market. That's my excitement and that's what I want to do every day."