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Samsung S24 series capture top three spots in GenAI-capable smartphone sales

Ana Mary Joseph
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Samsung S24 series capture top three spots in GenAI-capable smartphone sales
  • China becomes world’s largest GenAI-capable smartphone market, capturing one-third of the global market.
  • GenAI-capable smartphones’ share in global smartphone sales increased to 6% in first quarter of 2024 from just 1.3 per cent in the previous quarter.
  • The premium segment contributed over 70 per cent of GenAI-capable smartphone sales in first quarter.

Samsung Galaxy S24 series dominated the GenAI-capable smartphone market in the first quarter of the 2024, securing the top three spots in the top 10 list.

The S24 Ultra, commanding over 30 per cent market share, was the best-selling GenAI-capable smartphone, more than the combined share of the next two smartphones.

According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung’s aggressive marketing campaign highlighting the S24’s GenAI , coupled with its established global  presence, led the brand to take a 58 per cent share of the GenAI segment.

GenAI features like chat/note assist, circle to search, and live translate are gaining traction with users and garnering positive initial reviews.

Smartphones with Gen-AI-capable contributed 6 per cent to global sales in the first quarter, a significant increase from just 1.3 per cent in the previous quarter.

GenAI capabilities have opened new opportunities for smartphone brands and may potentially drive the market’s growth in the coming years.

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Premium smartphones (wholesale prices above $600) accounted for over 70 per cent of GenAI -capable smartphone sales and the number of GenAI-capable smartphone models increased from 16 to over 30 during the first quarter, indicating brands’ growing interest in this segment.

Chinese brands’ strategy

Even though Samsung’s phones captured the top three spots, Chinese brands captured the lower six positions and Google’s Pixel 8 Pro captured the tenth spot.

The Xiaomi 14 and vivo X100 models ranked fourth and fifth, respectively. Leading Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Vivo, Honor and Oppo  are aggressively integrating GenAI features across their offerings, including features like AI-generated portraits, AI eraser tools and robust offline virtual assistants. 

Chinese brands’ strategy to focus on their home market first has led to China becoming the world’s largest GenAI-capable smartphone market, capturing one-third of the global market.

GenAI-capable smartphones are expected to capture 11 per cent of the overall market in 2024 as newer use cases arise and consumer awareness increases around the segment. Media-focused features and personalised virtual assistants are expected to be major drivers of adoption.

Group-IB to bolster cyber resilience for Saudi university

Mohammed Fahad
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Group-IB to bolster cyber resilience for Saudi university
  • Partnership highlights importance of developing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals to safeguard the Kingdom and the Middle East.

Cybersecurity solutions provider Group-IB is set to strengthen threat analysis and bolster cyber resilience for students of Saudi Arabia’s University of Prince Mugrin (UPM).

An agreement was signed between the two parties at the university’s campus in Madinah and will work together to design, develop, and deliver educational curricula, workshops, and consultancy services in cybersecurity and digital forensics.

Key areas of collaboration include equipping UPM staff and students with Group-IB’s Managed Extended Detection and Response (XDR), Business Email Protection, Threat Intelligence, and Attack Surface Management, which will also benefit UPM’s on-campus incubation startups.

A proactive step

“This strategic alliance unites us in strengthening our collective cyber resilience. By leveraging Group-IB’s expertise, tools, and resources, we aim to empower University of Prince Mugrin students and staff with practical cybersecurity skills, fostering a new generation of professionals in Saudi Arabia,” Mohammad Flaifel, Business Development Manager at Group-IB, said.

Dr. Bandar bin Mohammed Hajjar, President of the University of Prince Mugrin, said the partnership highlights the importance of developing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals to safeguard the Kingdom and the Middle East.

“Equipping our students with the latest knowledge and Group-IB’s hands-on experience will not only enrich their education but prepare them to excel in the field, contributing meaningfully to the Kingdom’s cyber defences.”

This collaboration, aligned with Saudi Vision 2030, he added, signifies a proactive step towards nurturing a skilled workforce to safeguard critical infrastructure and drive cybersecurity innovation.

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AI accelerator chip startups challenge big players

Mohammed Fahad
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AI accelerator chip startups challenge big players
  • The US currently leads in AI accelerator chip innovation, closely followed by China and South Korea.
  • Among Chinese firms, Huawei leads with its Ascend series of AI accelerator chips, followed by Alibaba, Baidu, and others.
  • Industry stakeholders should closely monitor the landscape for potential mergers and acquisition opportunities in the near future.

Many AI accelerator chip startups are challenging and giving a tough fight to incumbents as genAI applications are projected as a transformative technology with a long-term impact.

Though the market is dominated by big players, 17 new companies entered the market and filed new patents in the past year alone.

Notably, innovation is shifting towards efficiently handling AI processes on edge devices, with 24% of all patents mentioning edge computing use cases, followed by autonomous driving and other solutions.

 “The rise in generative AI adoption has led to intense competition for superior AI accelerator chips. While the market is dominated by large players like Google, Nvidia, and Intel, there are clear signs of increasing disruption by startups in this space,” Sourabh Nyalkalkar, Practice Head of Innovation Products at GlobalData, said.

Neural networks

Tensor processing units (TPUs) are specialised hardware designed to accelerate the processing of AI and machine learning models. While originally created by Google for its TensorFlow framework, TPUs now represent a broader class of AI accelerator chips used for running neural networks and other machine learning models in complex operations ranging from autonomous driving to drug discovery.

Additionally, companies like Tesla and Apple are also building their in-house capabilities, as evident from the innovation leadership map in Technology Foresights.

Meta Platforms, which is advancing its large language model Llama for generative AI solutions, introduced its own AI accelerator chip last month.

Meanwhile, Samsung secured a significant $750 million contract from Naver Corp to supply edge AI accelerator chips. Both companies are recognised among the leaders in AI accelerator chips by Technology Foresights.

Growth opportunity

The US currently leads in AI accelerator chip innovation, closely followed by China and South Korea. Among Chinese firms, Huawei leads with its Ascend series of AI accelerator chips, followed by Alibaba, Baidu, and others.

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In recent years, 20 per cent of all patents in AI accelerator chip technology were filed by startups, signaling growing disruption in the market. Hailo, the Israeli startup specialising in AI accelerator chips for edge devices, recently raised $120 million.

Cortica, which leads in developing AI processors for autonomous driving applications, and Femtosense, known for creating specialised AI chips for small, energy-efficient electronic devices, are prominent among startups in innovation strength.

OpenAI, the leading generative AI company, is reportedly exploring potential acquisition targets to reduce its reliance on Nvidia. Intel and AMD have strengthened their innovation portfolios through the acquisitions of Habana Labs in 2019 and Nod.ai in 2023, respectively.

With nearly $4 billion raised by specialised AI chip startups between 2021 and 2023, and substantial scale-up efforts by large players to meet growing demands, Nyalkalkar said the growth opportunity for AI accelerator chips appears robust.

“With over 90 companies developing innovations in this space, industry stakeholders should closely monitor the landscape for potential mergers and acquisition opportunities in the near future.”

Mixed reality publishing platform Flam raises $4.5m to spread wings

Ana Mary Joseph
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Mixed reality publishing platform Flam raises $4.5m to spread wings
  • The funding round was led by Turbostart, AI-focused Twin Ventures, Alphatron Capital, and notable angel investors, along with several family offices and from existing backers such as SF-based Inventus Capital Partners, SVQ, and 9Unicorns. 

AI-powered mixed reality (MR) publishing platform Flam has raised Rs38 crore ($4.5 million) in a pre-series A funding round to expand its platform’s reach into North America, Europe, and the MENA region.

The funding round was led by Turbostart, AI-focused Twin Ventures, Alphatron Capital, and notable angel investors, along with several family offices and from existing backers such as SF-based Inventus Capital Partners, SVQ, and 9Unicorns. 

The platform has already hosted global brands, which includes the Britannia, Netflix, Wargaming, AJIO, Heeramandi, WPP, and Indian politician Shashi Tharoor.

Flam’s MR technology transforms print, OOH, TV, and digital advertisements into engaging experiences for end users and consumers.

“Following the success of Britannia’s MR ad featuring Ranveer Singh, we’ve attracted interest from 100s of global brands across various industries. Just like video ads, MR will become permanent in the brand’s marketing strategies worldwide,” Shourya Agarwal, Founder, and CEO of Flam, said.

Moreover, he said that the startup is at the forefront of publishing interactive MR content that can be accessed via mobile cameras, aiming to revolutionise the marketing landscape.

“We haven’t come across any other platform exposing consumers to MR so effortlessly,” said Ganesh Raju, Founder of Turbostart.

“Flam eliminates friction — with no need for headsets, app downloads, or web AR, making MR accessible through a simple link embedded anywhere — social media, websites, and even offline channels,” he added.

Zoho invests in drone startup Yali Aerospace

Mohammed Fahad
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Zoho invests in drone startup Yali Aerospace
  • The drone can help in delivering medicines and organs to remote hospitals, thereby bypassing the problems of emergency road transport.

India’s Zoho Corporation said that it will invest in Tamil Nadu based drone startup Yali Aerospace as part to its move to promote local companies.

“We are happy to announce our investment in Yali Aerospace, a drone startup based in Tanjavur led by the husband and wife team of Dinesh Baluraj and Anugraha. They returned from the Netherlands to their hometown of Tanjavur to start this,” Vembu wrote on the X platform, formerly Twitter, on May 28. 

He didn’t disclose the investment details.

Baluraj comes from an Aerospace engineering background having done his masters from Technical University of Munich.

Yali introduces an era of delivering medical commodities to any destination in India in less than 20 minutes through the Yali Network Bridge.

The Thanjavur-based startup has built a fixed wing drone with vertical take-off and landing capabilities.

The drone, with a range of 150km, payload of 7kg, and a maximum speed of 155km/hr, can help in delivering medicines and organs to remote hospitals, thereby bypassing the problems of emergency road transport.

Zoho, the first bootstrapped company in the world to cross 100 million users and the company serves over 700,000 businesses across 150 countries, is working towards growing tier 2 and 3 cities.

Zoho Founder Sridhar Vembu’s announcement comes at a time when Zoho has been investing in artificial intelligence and data centres, areas beyond its core business.

On May 16, Reuters said Zoho was planning a foray into chip-making and seeking incentives from the government. One of the sources pegged the investment plan at $700 million.

In March, Zoho announced investing close to Rs1,100 crore for Saudi Arabia’s digital infrastructure development and strategic partnerships with local government entities contributing to the Saudi Vision 2030.

Elizabeth Churchill joins MBZUAI to strengthen human-computer interaction research

TCN Bureau
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Elizabeth Churchill joins MBZUAI to strengthen human-computer interaction research
  • She joins MBZUAI as Department Chair of HCI and Professor of HCI and will lead the establishment of the university’s newest department, having added computer science and robotics departments last year.

Professor Elizabeth Churchill, user experience (UX) expert, will spearhead Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence’s (MBZUAI) Human-Computer Interaction Department.

Professor Churchill brings a wealth of experience and expertise in human-computer interaction (HCI), artificial intelligence (AI), psychology, and cognitive science.

She joins MBZUAI as Department Chair of HCI and Professor of HCI and will lead the establishment of the university’s newest department, having added computer science and robotics departments last year.

“I am honoured and excited to accept the opportunity,” Professor Churchill said.

“This initiative represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of AI education and research, where the fusion of human-centred design principles with cutting-edge technology will shape the future of AI innovation. I look forward to collaborating with students, faculty, and industry partners to cultivate a vibrant community of HCI scholars and practitioners dedicated to advancing AI for the benefit of society.”

Past experience

Churchill most recently served as Senior Director of UX at Google, where she led a team focused on creating developer tooling for Fuchsia, a next generation operating system.

Prior to that she formed and staffed research teams for Google’s design system, Material Design, and for Flutter, an open-source UI software development kit also created by Google.

Before joining Google, she held key positions at leading technology companies including eBay, Yahoo, and PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), where she spearheaded innovative research and design initiatives.

She has published more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and magazines, co-edited five books, and co-authored two books, demonstrating her commitment to advancing knowledge in the field of HCI. Her current focus is on social, computer, engineering, design, and data sciences to create innovative end-user applications. She has more than 50 patents granted or pending.    

“Professor Churchill’s exceptional track record of research and leadership in HCI and AI will further elevate our university’s academic programmes and strengthen our commitment to excellence in AI education and research,” MBZUAI’s President and University Professor, Eric Xing, said.

“This appointment underscores MBZUAI’s commitment to attracting world-class talent and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration in AI.”

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