Samsung Electronics CEO TM Roh unveils Z8 series vision in London

Samsung Electronics CEO TM Roh (who also serves as Head of the MX Business) introduced the vision for the Galaxy Z8 series during a press conference held in London, UK, following the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event on the 22nd local time. Roh aims to set a new standard for foldables and take a significant leap forward with the Z8 series.

During the conference, Roh presented a strategy to lead future mobile innovation by offering a foldable lineup optimized for individual user experiences. He noted that "foldables are now a matter of choice," while emphasizing the expansion of next-generation competitiveness through Agentic AI and enhanced AI health experiences.

"The Galaxy Z series revealed today is the starting point for redefining the standards of foldables," Roh said. "Having passed the era of announcing new form factors, foldables have now become part of daily life, and customer expectations are becoming even more diverse."

In response to diversifying consumer expectations, Samsung Electronics unveiled a foldable lineup that reflects various needs, such as a large-screen experience optimized for content consumption, a work environment that enhances productivity, and a user experience that emphasizes style and portability.

Notably, the Galaxy Z8 series is the thinnest and lightest foldable ever produced. The newly applied Flex Titanium technology combines the strength and lightweight nature of titanium with precision processing to withstand the repeated folding of the device. Through this, the Z8 series strengthens both portability and durability, marking a new milestone in foldable technology innovation.

"Foldables have entered a mature stage in terms of both technology and the market," Roh noted. "The entry of more companies into the market means that foldables have already become the mainstream."

He added, "The technological prowess and customer understanding accumulated over seven years since we first introduced foldables is a competitive edge that cannot be caught overnight. As competition intensifies, we will lead the global foldable market by staying one step ahead and presenting new standards."

Furthermore, he predicted that the next competitive edge for foldables would stem from AI rather than hardware, and that the gap between leaders and followers would widen in this area.

"AI is now becoming an infrastructure that everyone naturally expects, and to be used naturally in daily life, it must be easy and reliable," he stated, revealing the goal: "We will provide Galaxy AI to 800 million people within this year."

He explained, "People do not want to learn AI; they want to receive actual help. AI is evolving beyond merely answering questions into Agentic AI that performs necessary tasks on behalf of the user."

Emphasizing AI's ability to understand users, Roh highlighted Samsung Electronics' unique strength: being connected to the entirety of a customer's daily life through a diverse ecosystem of devices, including smartphones, watches, TV, and home appliances.

"No other company is with people in every corner of daily life with such a diverse range of devices," he said. "We will provide differentiated AI experiences based on a foundation that can most deeply understand people."

Samsung Electronics plans to accelerate the expansion of AI health experiences, identifying health as the area where AI can provide the greatest value.

The new Galaxy Watch helps users understand their health status more intuitively by analyzing sleep, recovery, and activity data, while Samsung Health has expanded its management scope to include vital signs in addition to sleep, exercise, diet, and mental health.

Based on various biometric data such as heart rate, respiration rate, and skin temperature during sleep, the system supports setting individual health standards and identifying abnormal signs more quickly.

"The direction Samsung Health aims for is to shift the focus of health management from treatment to prevention," Roh explained. "We will provide a more personalized health experience by combining AI and digital health technology."

Finally, he addressed the importance of privacy and transparency in the AI era.

"We have a principle of keeping the most sensitive personal data inside the device and allowing users to directly check and judge what the AI is doing and how," Roh said. "Providing a trustworthy AI experience is more important than anything else."