With the iPhone X, Huawei Mate 10 and Pixel 2 all featuring AI abilities this could be the next big thing in phones, and it doesn’t sound like Samsung plans to be left behind, as there’s evidence that the Exynos 9810 chipset likely to be packed into most models of the Samsung Galaxy S9 will have its own neural engine for AI tasks.
That theory is based on a report from The Investor, which claims Samsung has made a “significant investment” in Chinese artificial intelligence company DeePhi Tech.
Samsung’s interest in the company is apparently down to its neural network-based AI chipsets for portable devices, which makes it sound a lot like Samsung wants to put an AI chip in a phone.
Prime candidates
While the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Exynos 9810 aren’t named in the report they’re likely candidates for Samsung’s first neural engine, as the company isn’t going to want to fall behind, and as the Snapdragon 845, which is likely to be in US versions of the Galaxy S9, is rumored to sport AI skills of its own.
What Samsung will use its AI chip for isn’t currently known, but it would likely take some of the strain off the main chip, potentially speeding up the phone and extending its battery life.
And one likely candidate for it is face scanning, as it’s previously been rumored that the Galaxy S9 could have 3D face scanning skills, along the lines of the iPhone X’s Face ID, which is one of the main things Apple uses its AI chip for.
We’ll probably know for sure early next year, as the Samsung Galaxy S9 is likely to land in March 2018.
Source: techradar.com