- tech360.tv
Samsung-Baidu Partnership Unlikely to Boost Galaxy S24 Sales in China
Samsung's partnership with Baidu to integrate AI technology into the Galaxy S24 series has received lukewarm interest from Chinese consumers. Concerns have been raised about the search capabilities of the local version compared to the international version. The collaboration is unlikely to significantly impact Samsung's position in the Chinese smartphone market, which has been dominated by domestic vendors.
Samsung Electronics' recent collaboration with Chinese search giant Baidu to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) technology into its flagship Galaxy S24 smartphones has failed to generate significant interest among consumers in mainland China.
The partnership, announced in late January, saw Samsung's China division team up with Baidu AI Cloud to incorporate Baidu's Ernie large language model (LLM) and search engine into the Galaxy S24 series. These AI features were specifically tailored for the Chinese market, as the global version of the Galaxy S24 series relies on Google's Gemini AI, which is not available in China.
However, Chinese consumers have expressed concerns on social media that the search capabilities of the local version of the Galaxy S24 may not be as robust as those of the international version. Many users have compared the "Circle to Search" feature powered by Baidu to the overseas version supported by Google and found that it provided significantly fewer results.
"The overseas version is a completely different world than the mainland version," commented Weibo user "Sun Weilun," who tested various models at a Samsung store in Hong Kong. Another consumer, Richard Zhang, from Beijing, stated that he planned to purchase the overseas version of the Galaxy S24 to access the best AI services, as the mainland system recognizes Samsung phones as other brands.
While Baidu is considered a leading AI player in China, with its Ernie Bot being the first major tech firm in the country to launch its own ChatGPT alternative, the Baidu-Samsung partnership is not expected to have a significant impact on Samsung's position in the Chinese smartphone market. Samsung's market share in China has plummeted to less than 1% from 20% over the past decade, primarily due to the rise of Chinese vendors such as Huawei Technologies, Oppo, and Vivo, who are also incorporating LLMs and generative AI features into their latest handsets.
Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, noted that within the Chinese market, AI alone is unlikely to bring about immediate changes. However, Lam added that the partnership with Baidu demonstrates Samsung's commitment to long-term operations in China.
In terms of pricing, Samsung has set higher prices for the Galaxy S24 and S24+ in China compared to the previous S23 and S23+ models. Analyst Peng Peng from TechInsights revealed that the S24 series is priced between 500 yuan to 800 yuan (US$70 to US$112) higher than its predecessors in China. In contrast, Samsung has maintained the same price tags in the US and even reduced prices in Europe.
It appears that Samsung is not aggressively competing with domestic vendors in terms of value for money in the world's largest smartphone market, according to Peng.
Samsung's partnership with Baidu to integrate AI technology into the Galaxy S24 series has received lukewarm interest from Chinese consumers.
Concerns have been raised about the search capabilities of the local version compared to the international version.
The collaboration is unlikely to significantly impact Samsung's position in the Chinese smartphone market, which has been dominated by domestic vendors.
Source: SCMP