SmartThings Connects 430 Million Users with 4,700 Kinds of Home Appliances
At the conference, Samsung Electronics presented a strategy to expand AI throughout customers’ daily lives under the theme “Your Companion to AI Living.” Samsung Electronics plans to democratize the AI experience centered on three pillars: Entertainment Companion, Home Companion, and Care Companion.
Samsung Electronics President and CEO Noh Tae-moon (DX Division Head), who took the stage as the main speaker at The First Look event, emphasized, “Samsung Electronics will apply AI to all product lines and services to enable customers to enjoy truly meaningful AI experiences,” adding, “We will become an AI companion in customers’ daily lives and lead the ‘democratization of AI experience.’”
Noh presented execution strategies including expanding customer choice through open collaboration, hybrid AI strategy combining on-device AI and cloud AI, strengthening AI interfaces such as SmartThings, One UI, and Now Brief, and securing security and AI reliability based on Samsung Knox.
Samsung Electronics’ Entertainment Companion vision is a strategy to revolutionize viewing experience by combining AI and display technology. Yong Seok-woo, president of the Visual Display Division (VD), said, “Samsung Electronics has redefined the possibilities of TV as the global TV market leader for 20 years,” adding, “We will continue to lead the market based on our technological leadership.”
Samsung Electronics demonstrated an experience that understands the context of users’ questions and provides content analysis-based insights through the TV-exclusive AI platform Vision AI Companion. Samsung Electronics TVs for 2026 will feature the next-generation HDR standard HDR10+ ADVANCED, and implement immersive three-dimensional sound with Eclipsa Audio co-developed with Google. The Q-Symphony function will also be expanded to all audio brands of Harman.
At the press conference that day, the world’s first 130-inch Micro RGB (red, green, blue) TV was unveiled for the first time. The Micro RGB TV is characterized by implementing overwhelming color expression and contrast ratio by applying RGB LEDs of 100 micrometers (㎛) or less as backlight. Samsung Electronics plans to strengthen its attack on the ultra-large premium TV market by expanding to various lineups from 55 inches to 100 inches in 2026.
New OLED TV products with zero-gap mount that completely adheres to wall surfaces and a new Wi-Fi speaker, Music Studio, in collaboration with French designer Erwan Bouroullec were also unveiled together. Samsung Electronics will support upgrades for its proprietary OS, Tizen OS, for seven years.
Home Companion is another core pillar of the AI home that Samsung Electronics presented. Kim Cheol-gi, vice president of the Digital Appliances (DA) Division, said, “Samsung Electronics will realize the Home Companion vision through differentiated competitiveness, including the overwhelming connected ecosystem of Samsung Electronics AI appliances, form factors optimized for user interaction such as screens, cameras, and voice, and reliability for trusted long-term use.”
Samsung Electronics connects AI appliances through the smart home platform SmartThings. SmartThings has built an ecosystem connecting more than 430 million users worldwide and about 4,700 types of devices. Samsung Electronics has applied AI here to make appliances understand users’ needs and operate organically on their own.
The 2026 BESPOKE AI Family Hub refrigerator will be equipped with Google’s latest AI model Gemini for the first time among appliances. It also provides advanced food ingredient recognition, recipe recommendations, and functions that convert cooking content in videos into recipes. ‘BESPOKE AI AirDresser’ and ‘BESPOKE AI Steam’ robot vacuum cleaners have also strengthened AI-based differentiation features.
Samsung Electronics also presented a vision for AI-based proactive and preventive health management through Care Companion. Through Samsung Health, it integrates and analyzes sleep, nutrition, and physical activity data to provide personalized coaching, extending to meal suggestions linked with refrigerators.
A structure that connects to medical consultation through the digital health platform Xealth when abnormalities are detected was also introduced. Brain health technology that detects cognitive decline by analyzing behavioral patterns such as walking speed and finger movements using mobile and wearable data was also unveiled for the first time.
Noh said, “Samsung’s AI innovation is not about technology itself, but aimed at making users’ daily lives more valuable,” adding, “As a global technology leader, Samsung Electronics will expand the AI ecosystem based on responsible ethical standards and establish itself as a true AI companion in daily life.”
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics will conduct The First Look event through an independent exhibition hall of 4,628 square meters (about 1,400 pyeong), the largest in the industry, at the Wynn and Encore Las Vegas hotel for four days until Jan. 7. The exhibition will continue with various programs including press conferences and Samsung Technology Forum under the theme “Your AI Companion in Daily Life.” The event was held at Samsung Electronics’ independent exhibition hall at the Wynn Hotel, with approximately 1,500 attendees, including global media and global partners.
Source: BusinessKorea