Samsung Galaxy smartphones may replace the Settings menu with AI: report

2 weeks ago 11

(Image credit: Samsung)

Samsung is keen to incorporate AI across every facet of your life, but that could mean one major removal from Galaxy smartphones. A report from ETNews points to a future where the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE will have AI features but no Settings menu. The article says that Samsung believes the AI in its phones will be able to anticipate your needs without you having to make any adjustments, thus making Settings a redundant feature.

The concept is part of Samsung's desire for the Galaxy smartphones to be fully AI-driven. Though the exact form of a Settings-free smartphone hasn't been unveiled yet, there are already hints about how the device's AI could use a combination of conversation with the user and the way they use the device to adapt its performance without requiring the kind of menu adjustments currently common. It would encompass many aspects of the smartphone's performance. That means the basics, like notifications, brightness of the screen, and its layout.

The main focus for Samsung in using AI to replace Settings appears to be the camera and the keyboard, according to the report. That makes sense since they are used in the broadest number of ways. There are a lot of editing options for photos, but these days, your device handles a lot of the photo-quality enhancements before you do anything. Adding AI to the equation could extend that functionality in subtle but useful ways, like automatically switching to night mode or otherwise adapting to location and setting.

For keyboards, the AI could help personalize your typing. Auto-predicting words are usually about the most common phrases in general, but AI could fiddle with those elements to where they best fit your actual writing style and word preferences. Personalization and automation are Samsung's watchwords.

AI anticipation

In some ways, smartphone makers have been moving in this direction for years. When was the last time you manually adjusted battery settings beyond standard and battery-saving? Of course, the question is whether AI can predict complex and ever-changing setting preferences. When do you want your phone to brighten? Which app should have your volume set low or high?

For the average user, having AI handle your settings could mean fewer distractions and not having to sort through menus every time you want to adjust a particular aspect of the phone. Automating tasks and anticipating needs might help Samsung’s AI features and devices stand out amid an increasingly crowded field. That said, how Samsung collects and uses the data needed for the AI to make these adjustments will likely be crucial for the company to explain. It could all happen on the device without a need for sharing private information, but if not, people might not be as excited to try it out.

Don't expect your Settings menu to vanish immediately. There's no timeline yet, but it could be part of Samsung’s next major software update when the Android 15-based One UI 7 comes out for the Galaxy S series.

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Eric Hal Schwartz is a freelance writer for TechRadar with more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of the world and technology. For the last five years, he served as head writer for Voicebot.ai and was on the leading edge of reporting on generative AI and large language models. He's since become an expert on the products of generative AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, and every other synthetic media tool. His experience runs the gamut of media, including print, digital, broadcast, and live events. Now, he's continuing to tell the stories people want and need to hear about the rapidly evolving AI space and its impact on their lives. Eric is based in New York City.

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