- This month Samsung has introduced the Bespoke AI smart home appliances that are slated to land in South Africa.
- Most of the new products will receive multi-year software and security updates, Samsung South Africa confirmed.
- Bespoke AI products also tout AI-powered energy saving functions.
Last week Samsung held a local launch event for its latest lineup of smart home appliances, under its premium Bespoke AI banner. These are appliances that the company revealed globally earlier this year, and are now being slated for launch in South Africa soon.
The Bespoke lineup is one that Samsung has been releasing since 2019, but this year’s iteration is a little different in that it has dived deeper into the AI side of things.
Much as we have seen with Galaxy AI on selected smartphones and AI-powered smart TVs this year, Bespoke AI appliances will seemingly bring more features to the fore, all designed to make life a little easier, according to Samsung, although we should also point out that these products do not come cheap.
“Samsung is pioneering the era of automation by integrating industry-leading AI technology into our home appliances,” said Mark Mackay, head of home appliances at Samsung South Africa.
“The amazing future home life made possible by Bespoke AI appliances doesn’t just make life easier for consumers. Today we see a paradigm shift from design centric to a seamless blend of design meets technology – AI and SmartThings – bringing a seamless and effortless home experience that enables an intelligent way of living, giving you more free time and bigger every savings,” he added in a release sent to Hypertext.
While all of the new Bespoke AI appliances have their individual features and selling points, across the board Samsung has focused on two elements – Smart AI Energy Saving and SmartForward Updates.
The former is fairly self explanatory, as the 2024 products will leverage on-device AI in order to optimise power usage, which is particularly important for the new fridge, washing machine, and air conditioner that Samsung has brought to our shores.
As for SmartForward, it promises multi-year software and security updates across the 2024 Bespoke AI range. This is an important element to consider given the increased compute power, connectedness, and interpretability that these new products tout.
“Samsung Bespoke AI home appliances feature Smart Forward, a service bringing newest features and updates through regular software updates with assured security and additional AI features,” the company shared when asked for more detail on this feature by Hypertext.
“Smart Forward constantly provides device upgrades and Samsung Knox, Samsung’s unique security standard, protects users’ personal information. The target timeframe for the software and security updates may vary as the actual point of sale varies among customers,” it confirmed.
Samsung also highlighted that it is working with many third-party device makers and manufacturers when it comes to supporting more smart home appliances via the SmartThings applications. “We’ve teamed up with hundreds of global brands to give you countless smart home possibilities,” Samsung pointed out.
Looking through the list of partners, for South Africans this will include the likes of Philips Hue (lighting), ring, Honeywell, JBL, ABB, Bose, Sonos, and more.
As our home appliances get smarter, more will need to be done to ensure that they remain secure and stay up-to-date. In this front, Samsung appears to have taken notice and has ensured something is being done.
