How Feedback Feeds Into Product Development
We began by asking where product development truly starts for Samsung today, and how different feedback channels influence what eventually makes it into devices. “The opinion and feedback of our users are important and one of the important parts of our development. One of the key sources of feedback is Samsung Members, Samsung’s users’ community, where users can post feedback and ideas. We closely sense the Samsung Members portal and escalate meaningful feedback.”
“Another channel is our service center – direct voice of consumers. People visit service centers with their issues. We closely hear these and try to solve the issues.”
“We also get feedback from online channels, where we use AI to filter out important, insightful information.”
Samsung indicated that these inputs are aggregated across channels, including community platforms, physical service touchpoints, and broader digital signals. Some feedback feeds into immediate fixes or updates, while other inputs are evaluated for inclusion in future product cycles and feature development.
India’s Role in Samsung’s Global R&D Network
Samsung’s Noida R&D centre has evolved from feature phone development into a core part of its global software and AI ecosystem. The centre now works across smartphones, tablets, and wearables, contributing to areas such as framework development, digital health, applications, and enterprise security.
For the Galaxy S26 series, teams in India have contributed to features such as Privacy Display, Now Nudge, Now Brief enhancements, AI-powered call screening, and Direct Voicemail. “We do not compete with each other, but we play as a global one team and develop our Galaxy phone together.”
Samsung’s “global one team” approach involves shared development responsibilities across centres, including its headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, with collaboration spanning design, development, and testing.
Agentic AI and User Control
A major focus area is “Agentic AI”, where devices proactively assist users by anticipating actions and surfacing relevant suggestions.
“Now Nudge generally solves productivity in terms of efficiency, creating multiple steps into one step.”
At the same time, Samsung emphasised that these systems are designed to remain user-controlled.
“The control is totally with users. First, they have to provide the permission… AI will access content only after permission is granted.”
The company also highlighted its use of on-device processing to ensure that personal data remains within the device wherever possible.
Local Conditions Shaping Global Features
The discussion highlighted how India-specific usage patterns are influencing product development at a global level.
Challenges such as inconsistent network connectivity, dual-SIM usage, and high-temperature environments have led to software-level optimisations. These include improvements in handling dropped audio packets, automatic data switching between SIMs, and performance tuning for thermal conditions.
Features like Privacy Display also reflect everyday scenarios such as viewing sensitive information in crowded environments.
On-Device AI and Cloud Integration
Samsung continues to balance on-device AI with cloud-based processing. “The important thing is balancing the on-device and the cloud side.” On-device AI offers advantages in latency and privacy, while cloud infrastructure provides higher computational capability. The company indicated that both approaches will continue to be used depending on the feature and performance requirements.
Language AI and Regional Adaptation
Samsung’s work on language AI began with Hindi and has expanded to Gujarati, with both currently supported on-device. “It is on-device-based language AI… bringing anything on device is itself a challenge.” The company noted challenges related to dialect diversity and evolving language usage, particularly in informal and regional contexts, requiring continuous model training and optimisation.
Performance Optimisation Over Cost Reduction
Addressing concerns around rising smartphone prices, Samsung framed optimisation primarily in terms of improving performance. “Optimisation not only means reduced price, but also performance improvement.” This includes efficiency improvements across battery usage, processing, and thermal management, particularly in markets with varied environmental conditions.
Broader Market Context: The Role of Form Factor
While the roundtable focused largely on software and AI, Samsung’s positioning in the premium segment continues to be influenced by hardware innovation. Foldable devices such as the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 have seen strong reception and remain central to the company’s strategy. Samsung has also explored new formats, including a TriFold concept, which has recently been paused. This highlights how form factor continues to play a key role alongside AI in defining the premium smartphone experience.
The Takeaway
The roundtable reflected a shift toward integrating user feedback more directly into product development, with multiple input channels feeding into both current updates and future features. At the same time, Samsung’s India R&D centre is playing an increasingly important role within its global development structure, particularly in areas related to AI and real-world usage optimisation.
