Photo: Samsung
Samsung’s Unpacked event this week witnessed several major announcements, all of them related to the company’s strategy of expanding its product offering beyond the typical mobile screen.
The South Korean firm thus wants to become a much more important player in the car, and one of its current priorities is to expand UWB capabilities to new devices. With UWB support, a Samsung phone can thus gain new features, including support for becoming a car key with the right hardware installed on a vehicle.
Apple and BMW are already offering such options to their customers since the debut of the iPhone 12, so Samsung’s goal here is more than obvious: the company doesn’t want to be late to the party, so turning its Galaxy phones into car keys is the main focus now.
As we reported earlier this week, Samsung is already working with a series of carmakers on this update, and the Galaxy S21 lineup announced this week will be the first one to benefit from the new capabilities.
And now according to the company, the update enabling the “next-generation car experience” would land in the summer, with Samsung adding that it wants this feature to be available “across a wide variety of car makes and models.”
No other specifics have been provided, but it’s very clear Samsung has become very committed to the automotive market. The company also announced this week that it’s bringing the SmartThings app, which makes it possible to control a smart home, to Android Auto, thus providing drivers with easy access to the systems installed at home.
“We are further powering mobile experiences – when you are moving between your house, office and even on-the-go in your cars with Android Auto – so you have the flexibility to access key features, and share and stay connected with the people and things that matter most,” KJ Kim, EVP and Head of the Mobile R&D Office at Samsung, said.
Apple and BMW are already offering such options to their customers since the debut of the iPhone 12, so Samsung’s goal here is more than obvious: the company doesn’t want to be late to the party, so turning its Galaxy phones into car keys is the main focus now.
As we reported earlier this week, Samsung is already working with a series of carmakers on this update, and the Galaxy S21 lineup announced this week will be the first one to benefit from the new capabilities.
And now according to the company, the update enabling the “next-generation car experience” would land in the summer, with Samsung adding that it wants this feature to be available “across a wide variety of car makes and models.”
No other specifics have been provided, but it’s very clear Samsung has become very committed to the automotive market. The company also announced this week that it’s bringing the SmartThings app, which makes it possible to control a smart home, to Android Auto, thus providing drivers with easy access to the systems installed at home.
“We are further powering mobile experiences – when you are moving between your house, office and even on-the-go in your cars with Android Auto – so you have the flexibility to access key features, and share and stay connected with the people and things that matter most,” KJ Kim, EVP and Head of the Mobile R&D Office at Samsung, said.
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