Samsung Electronics has unveiled its new foldable smartphones, Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip6, which are equipped with enhanced artificial intelligence features. With these innovations, the South Korean electronics giant aims to strengthen its position in the rapidly growing premium smartphone market and counter competition from China.

At an event in Paris intended to build anticipation for the Olympic Games, Samsung unveiled the new models priced at $1,899.99 for the Galaxy Z Fold6 and $1,099.99 for the Galaxy Z Flip6.

In January, Samsung had already introduced its Galaxy S series, which is capable of executing generative AI functions directly on the device, to revive the struggling smartphone market that experienced its worst year in a decade in 2023.

Samsung announced on Wednesday that it is "opening the next chapter of Galaxy AI" with the new models to enable a variety of unique mobile experiences. The new foldable smartphones are slimmer, lighter, and more robust. The Galaxy Z Fold6 offers AI-powered features that are designed to make the most of the large screen and enhance productivity, including live phone translations, transcription of voice recordings, video search, and photo editing.

The introduction of the new devices comes at a critical time as Samsung competes with Apple for the top position in smartphone sales and consumers increasingly shift to more expensive premium phones. Apple is expected to introduce a new iPhone with generative AI features later this year.

Samsung's market share for foldable smartphones fell to 29.9 percent last year, followed by Huawei with 23.5 percent and Honor with 14.8 percent, according to figures from market research firm IDC for the first quarter.

It is crucial for Samsung to regain momentum," said Sheng Win Chow, an analyst at Canalys. "To stand out, we expect Samsung to continue investing in Galaxy AI to explore new integrations and features for its foldable devices and the entire ecosystem.

The introduction of Samsung's AI-powered S24 smartphone was well received by consumers and sold significantly better than its predecessor models. IDC expects that generative AI-enabled smartphones will make up 70 percent of the entire smartphone market by 2028, with an average annual growth rate of 78.4 percent.

The development of technology will have the greatest impact once it reaches mid-range devices in 2026 and takes the biggest step towards the democratization of generative AI," said Nabila Popal, Senior Research Director at IDC.

Nevertheless, foldable phones, which make up less than 2 percent of total smartphone shipments and are about three times as expensive as non-foldable devices with an average selling price of around 1,400 USD, remain a niche product that cannot make a significant contribution to Samsung's revenue.

Samsung also introduced a range of portable devices on Wednesday, including an improved smartwatch and a new ring with enhanced health monitoring features.

Analysts are skeptical about how much AI can boost Samsung's smartphone sales as the market becomes increasingly mature. "The AI features presented so far look good and have been well received, but they don't seem to be a game-changer yet," said James Lim, an analyst at US hedge fund Dalton Investments.