Samsung is bringing more Galaxy AI capabilities to its flagship smartphones, and the latest update offers eSamsung is bringing more Galaxy AI capabilities to its flagship smartphones, and its latest One UI 9 update offers another look at how quickly artificial intelligence is becoming part of the everyday mobile experience.
On August 28, Samsung announced a major feature update for One UI 9 beta users on the Galaxy S26 series. The update brings features previously introduced on Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z devices to the S26 series, including My FanCam, expanded Now Brief capabilities and enhancements to Now Nudge.
The individual features are interesting. But the bigger story is what is happening underneath them.
Samsung is increasingly integrating AI directly into the operating system and, in some cases, processing sophisticated AI workloads directly on the device.
For technology leaders, Samsung One UI 9 provides a glimpse at where the mobile experience may be heading next.
What’s New in Samsung One UI 9?
The latest One UI 9 beta update introduces several Galaxy AI features to Galaxy S26 devices.
My FanCam uses AI to keep a selected person in focus within previously recorded video and can automatically reframe the footage into different aspect ratios.
Now Brief brings personalized information and recommendations into customizable cards based on users’ routines, interests and daily needs. Samsung says the latest version also surfaces security and privacy insights.
Now Nudge is also receiving enhancements designed to provide more contextual suggestions as users navigate everyday tasks and interactions.
There are also important requirements behind those experiences. Samsung says My FanCam requires a Samsung Account login, Now Brief requires a Samsung Account and network connection, and Now Nudge requires an account and works only with supported applications.
Those details are worth paying attention to because they show how deeply AI is becoming integrated into the broader Galaxy ecosystem.
Galaxy AI Is Moving Deeper Into the Mobile Experience
My FanCam provides a particularly interesting example of what is happening beneath the surface of Samsung One UI 9.
In a September 1 interview with members of Samsung Research and its Mobile eXperience Business, Samsung explained that My FanCam uses an AI model capable of recognizing individuals and tracking a selected person throughout a video.
Hwangpil Park of Samsung Research explained:
“The key to My FanCam’s ability to follow a selected person even in complex scenes is an AI model that precisely recognizes individuals.”
Samsung says the model identifies and remembers information about each person’s location and visual characteristics, allowing it to continue recognizing the selected individual throughout the video.
But perhaps the more significant detail is where the AI processing happens.
Sunghwan Kim of Samsung’s Mobile eXperience Business said:
“The key challenge was processing AI workloads entirely on-device without a separate server.”
Samsung’s engineers had to account for processing speed, power consumption and heat generation while optimizing the AI model and reducing the computational load required to run it.
That’s a much bigger story than an AI-powered camera feature.
Samsung One UI 9 Shows the Shift Toward On-Device AI
For years, many of the AI tools people interacted with relied heavily on processing that happened somewhere other than the device in their hands.
That line is becoming increasingly blurred.
Samsung’s One UI 9 experience gives users controls over whether certain Galaxy AI processing happens on-device or in the cloud. The company is simultaneously integrating its Knox security technologies into the experience, including Knox Vault and connected-device security capabilities.
This creates a mobile environment where the smartphone itself is becoming increasingly capable of performing sophisticated AI tasks.
And Samsung isn’t alone in pursuing that direction.
The larger trend is toward phones functioning as increasingly intelligent computing platforms, with AI woven into operating systems, applications, cameras, productivity tools and everyday interactions.
For IT leaders, that makes mobile AI worth watching closely.
One UI 9 Also Shows How Complicated AI Availability Can Become
There’s another interesting aspect of the Samsung One UI 9 update: having the operating system doesn’t necessarily mean having every AI capability.
Samsung notes that Galaxy AI feature availability can vary based on country or region, device model, operating system or One UI version and carrier. Some features may also require a network connection or Samsung Account.
My FanCam demonstrates this particularly well.
The feature debuted with Samsung’s newest Galaxy Z devices and is now being extended to Galaxy S26 series One UI 9 beta users. Samsung’s broader rollout of One UI 9 continues across additional Galaxy devices, but individual capabilities may still differ.
That creates an increasingly important distinction:
An organization may know which smartphones its employees have without necessarily knowing which AI capabilities those devices can access.
For organizations with large mobile environments, that is something worth paying attention to as AI becomes more embedded at the operating-system level.
My FanCam Is Getting Attention Beyond Samsung
The interest surrounding My FanCam also shows how quickly individual AI capabilities can become part of the broader technology conversation.
Yahoo Tech, through Engadget, recently published a guide to Samsung’s My FanCam, explaining how users can select a person in existing footage and allow Galaxy AI to reframe the video around that individual.
Samsung’s own engineering interview goes much deeper, revealing the technical work required to make that seemingly simple experience possible.
Samsung Research and the Mobile eXperience team had to account for real-world variables such as movement, people overlapping within a frame and subjects appearing at different points in a video. The teams repeatedly refined the AI model and validated those changes in the actual product environment.
It is a useful reminder that the consumer-facing AI feature is only the visible layer.
Underneath it sits increasingly sophisticated AI infrastructure running directly on the smartphone.
What Samsung One UI 9 Means for Enterprise IT
The immediate impact of My FanCam itself may be limited for most enterprise organizations.
The technological direction behind it is much more relevant.
As Galaxy AI becomes more deeply integrated into Samsung devices, IT teams may increasingly need visibility into questions such as which devices support particular AI capabilities, which One UI versions employees are running, whether processing occurs locally or in the cloud, which features require accounts or network connectivity, and what security and privacy controls accompany those capabilities.
That doesn’t mean every new Galaxy AI feature creates a new IT problem.
It means the definition of the enterprise smartphone is changing.
Organizations are no longer managing devices that simply provide calls, messaging, email and access to business applications. Increasingly, those devices contain their own AI capabilities, models, processing decisions and connected services.
For organizations managing hundreds or thousands of mobile devices, keeping visibility and control over that environment becomes increasingly important.
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The Future of Mobile AI Is Already Taking Shape
Samsung One UI 9 isn’t significant because of any single feature.
My FanCam, Now Brief and Now Nudge are examples of something larger.
AI is moving deeper into the smartphone itself.
Samsung engineers are optimizing AI models specifically for mobile hardware. AI workloads can run directly on devices. Users can increasingly choose between local and cloud processing. Operating systems are becoming more contextual and personalized. Security and privacy controls are evolving alongside those capabilities.
And One UI 9 is continuing to expand across the Galaxy ecosystem.
For consumers, that means new features.
For technology leaders, it is another reason to pay attention to what the next generation of enterprise smartphones will be capable of.