By Hyunjoo Jin

SEOUL, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics plans to double this year the number of its mobile devices with "Galaxy AI" features largely powered by Google's Gemini, its co-CEO said, which would give the U.S. firm an edge over rivals as the global race in artificial intelligence heats up.

The South Korean company, which had rolled out Gemini-backed AI features to about 400 million mobile products, including smartphones and tablets, by last year, plans to boost that figure to 800 million in 2026.

"We will apply AI to all products, all functions, and all services as quickly as possible," T M Roh told Reuters in his first interview since becoming Samsung Electronics co-CEO in November.

The plan by the world's largest backer of Google's Android mobile platform is set to give a major boost to its developer Google, which is locked in a race with OpenAI and others to attract more consumer users to their AI model.

Samsung seeks to reclaim its lost crown from Apple in the smartphone market and fend off competition from Chinese rivals not only in mobile telephones, but televisions and home appliances, all overseen by Roh.

It will offer integrated AI services across consumer products to widen its lead over Apple in such features, though the latter was set to be the top smartphone maker last year, according to market researcher Counterpoint.

AI RACE

Alphabet's Google launched the latest version of Gemini in November, highlighting Gemini 3's lead on several popular industry measures of AI model performance.

In response to Gemini 3, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly issued an internal "code red," pausing non-core projects and redirecting teams to accelerate development. The ChatGPT maker launched its GPT-5.2 AI model a few weeks later.

Roh expects the adoption of AI to accelerate, as Samsung's surveys on awareness of its Galaxy AI brand jumped to a level of 80% from about 30% in just one year.

"Even though the AI technology might seem a bit doubtful right now, within six months to a year, these technologies will become more widespread," he said.

While search is the most used AI feature on phones, consumers also frequently use a range of generative AI editing and productivity tools for images and others, as well as translation and summary features, he said.

Galaxy AI is Samsung's term for its suite of AI features, including those powered by both Google's Gemini model and Samsung's own Bixby for different tasks.

Samsung shares ended up 7.5% on Monday, as the company is set to flag a profit jump for the fourth quarter later this week, fueled by a global chip shortage.

"NOT IMMUNE" TO MEMORY CHIP SHORTAGE

A global shortage of memory chips is a boon to Samsung's mainstay semiconductor business, but pressures margins on the smartphone business, its second largest revenue source.

"As this situation is unprecedented, no company is immune to its impact," Roh said, adding that the crisis affects not only mobile phones but other consumer electronics, from TVs to home appliances.

He did not rule out raising product prices, saying some impact was "inevitable" from a surge in memory chip prices, but Samsung, the world’s No.1 TV maker, is working with partners on longer term strategies to minimise the impact.

Market researchers such as IDC and Counterpoint predict the global smartphone market will shrink next year, as the memory chip shortage threatens to drive up phone prices.

Roh said the market for foldable phones that Samsung pioneered in 2019 has been growing slower than expected.

He attributed this to the engineering complexities and lack of applications suitable for the hardware design, but expected the segment to go mainstream in the next two or three years.

A "very high" rate of foldable phone users opt for the same segment for their next purchase, he said, but gave no details.

Samsung controlled nearly two-thirds of the foldable smartphone market in the third quarter of 2025, according to Counterpoint.

But it faces competition from Chinese companies such as Huawei, as well as Apple, which is expected to launch its first foldable phone this year.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Clarence Fernandez)