Samsung Electronics is expected to become more dependent on Google in the Extended Reality (XR) market. While Google's artificial intelligence (AI) Gemini and Samsung's AI Bixby are both installed on Galaxy smartphones, only Google Gemini was installed on the new XR device Samsung released on the 22nd. Industry watchers say Samsung had little choice but to center on Google AI to secure XR content. There are also concerns that, just as Samsung developed its own smartphone operating system (OS) Tizen more than 10 years ago but did not install it and became dependent on Google's OS, the same will be repeated in the XR market.
◇ 'Galaxy XR' is a half version of 'Galaxy AI'… only Google Gemini installed
According to Samsung Electronics on the 24th, Samsung's first XR device, Galaxy XR, does not include Samsung's AI software Bixby. Instead, only Google Gemini was included. It is a half version of Galaxy AI with Bixby left out. A Samsung Electronics official said, "Galaxy AI is a term that collectively refers to the AI used on Galaxy," and added, "Existing Galaxy smartphones include both Samsung Bixby and Google Gemini, but the newly released Galaxy XR includes only Google Gemini."
Analysts say Samsung Electronics likely did not include its own AI in Galaxy XR due to difficulties securing XR content. An electronics industry official said, "It is no exaggeration to say the success of XR depends on securing a wide range of content. From Samsung's standpoint, it would have been hard to reject Google's demand to leave out its own AI."
There is also talk that Google will monopolize future XR user data because Samsung's AI is not installed. The more Samsung expands its influence in the XR market, the more central Google's AI and mobile services become, and in that process most Samsung XR user data will go to Google. An IT industry official said, "Going forward, various services on Samsung XR will effectively lead to data dependence on Google, creating a structure in which dependence on the platform and data deepens."
◇ Samsung insisted on putting Bixby on smartphones… but gave up easily on XR
Some say Samsung Electronics gave up the AI software business opportunity too easily. They say this runs counter to its previous course of expanding the Samsung AI ecosystem despite Google's checks in the smartphone market.
According to the industry, when Samsung installed Bixby on the Galaxy S8 in 2017, Google's pushback was fierce. According to U.S. investment analysis firm Edison Investment Research (Edison Research), a patent-sharing agreement Google and Samsung signed in 2014 included a clause that barred installing on smartphones services similar to those Google installs on Android. Google is said to have used this to pressure Samsung not to include Bixby. At the time, Google Assistant was an AI service similar to Bixby.
However, after lengthy negotiations with Google, Samsung reached an agreement to install both Google Assistant and Samsung Bixby on the Galaxy S8. An electronics industry official said, "At the time, Samsung held firm against Google because of a strategic judgment that it needed to generate business revenue on both hardware and software like Apple." Another electronics industry official said, "The absence of Samsung AI on XR devices means it has given up expanding its own AI ecosystem," adding, "There are concerns Samsung will be reduced to a hardware company."
◇ Samsung gave up on its self-developed OS 'Tizen'… concern it may be repeated in XR
As Samsung gave up installing its own AI on Galaxy XR, the case of its proprietary OS Tizen, developed for smartphones in the past, is being cited. Samsung Electronics released a Tizen OS-based smartphone in 2015 to gain independence from Google's smartphone OS. However, due to difficulties in expanding Tizen's user base, it effectively ended its proprietary smartphone OS strategy with the Z4 model in 2017. Since then, Samsung has expanded collaboration with Google and shifted its business direction to rely on Google's Android OS and mobile services. A software industry official said, "At the time, Tizen was evaluated as an excellent OS comparable to Google's Android, but Samsung had difficulty expanding the ecosystem because it could not install it on Galaxy smartphones," adding, "Samsung's smartphone OS became 100% dependent on Google, but I understand Samsung tried to build an independent ecosystem at least for AI."
Kim Yong-seok, distinguished professor at Gachon University (former executive director at Samsung Electronics), said, "XR devices have strong potential to grow into a new hardware platform. In the end, data and content will become important, and Samsung must not be subordinated to Google even for AI," adding, "Just as Galaxy smartphones adopt two chips, Qualcomm and Exynos, XR also needs a strategy to install AI that Samsung developed in-house."
A Samsung Electronics official said, "Samsung proposed an XR project to Google four years ago and began development, and to provide users with the best XR experience, we have worked closely with Google and Qualcomm from the early development stage and pursued the project as one team," adding, "We will continue to strengthen mutual cooperation with partners to accelerate the expansion of the XR ecosystem."