Hubert Lee The Galaxy Z Series marked the very beginning of foldable phones. To solidify that symbolism, we knew we had to create a product that felt truly impressive to anyone who saw it. There was a shared understanding within the team that simply repeating what we had done in the past wouldn’t be enough to meet customer expectations. Change wasn’t a choice, it was a must. That’s why with the seventh series of Galaxy Z, we didn’t approach it as a refinement - we approached it as a redesign from the ground up. We approached it as if we were starting completely from scratch.

We design lifestyle products. To be part of people’s daily lives, portability is essential and reducing weight was the key to achieving that. Our mobile R&D office put in a huge amount of effort in that respect. The nature of the hardware meant there was a certain weight we had to carry, but we kept wondering if we could make it just a little bit lighter. That led to a lot of research and testing. As it became lighter, it became thinner and the display larger, until we arrived at the sleek, modern form we had envisioned. The product you see is the result of countless hours of deliberation, passion, and engineering.

Huichul Yang Since One UI 6, we’ve been introducing a range of features as an AI companion. With One UI 8, we focused on meaningful productivity. We took advantage of Galaxy Z Fold7’s large-screen form factor to let users easily compare original and AI-generated content side by side, and move it seamlessly between apps.

Hubert Lee The design team holds a session called Design Clinic. Group and part leaders come together to share ongoing projects and insights. It’s not a formal meeting, but rather a relaxed gathering to share ideas over coffee and dessert. It’s an open discussion where even criticism is seen as a way to make our products better and support each other. In the MX Business’ design team, we cover everything from smartphones and wearables to PC, tablet, CMF, and packaging, each item with its own functions. The Design Clinic helps us gain insight into other categories or discover early-stage ideas.

Hubert Lee The design team has established a Galaxy Design principle called Essential Design, aimed at focusing on core value and removing unnecessary elements. It’s based on three key elements: Simple, Impactful, and Emotive. We believe that when these three elements come together in harmony, they create a truly aspirational product. We use the principle and its key elements as evaluation tools during the design planning stage, through a process we call Design Analytics. We conduct evaluations with internal employees to make sure our design intent is being communicated to users effectively. We use the data and insights from this to refine current designs and even identify future products. It’s how we strengthen our design identity, and it’s an integral part of the Galaxy design process.

Huichul Yang We refer to AI tools during the testing process. We’ve observed that results from AI- based virtual user testing are fairly close to tests done by recruiting actual users. This leads us to expect that AI can play a significant role in UX evaluation going forward. We’re also experimenting with AI in other ways, like testing multiple versions of motion or animation effects, or turning 2D assets into 3D or animated formats. In this way, we’re continuously learning more about how to enhance our designs with AI.