Samsung Trend Radar 2026: smartphones and smart TVs everywhere, but almost one in two Italians ignore AI

We live in an era where Artificial Intelligence permeates practically every technological advertisement, from cloud computing to consumer electronics. Yet, between hardware integration and actual daily use by users, there is still a chasm.

The new Samsung Trend Radar 2026, a study conducted in collaboration with Toluna, accurately highlights this discrepancy: we have homes full of cutting-edge devices, but we still do not know how to fully exploit their intelligence.

The numbers are clear; Italy is a hyper-connected country in terms of access. The penetration of devices is very high, with 93% of respondents owning a smartphone, 82% using a PC or laptop, and 80% having a Smart TV in their living room. Therefore, it is a fertile ground for the smart revolution. On the other hand, 42% of Italians admit to using AI-based tools little or not at all (with 23% ignoring them entirely). Only a little over a third (35%) have successfully integrated them into their routine.

According to Samsung's report, the main problem is related to a clear perceptual gap. In the collective imagination, Artificial Intelligence suffers from excessive simplification: for 56% of users, AI simply coincides with a chatbot to ask questions. Others primarily associate it with voice assistants (47%) or classic translation tools (44%). In short, there is a lack of understanding of the global ecosystem. Only a meager 15% recognizes the real advantage of having integrated and communicating devices, and just 22% of those who own smart appliances allow AI to autonomously adjust consumption or washing cycles. AI is sometimes seen as a useful function for saving time (71% think so), and at other times as a sci-fi concept still tied to the idea of robots.

How can we bridge this gap? Samsung's answer, as explained by Emanuele De Longhi, Head of Corporate Marketing for the Italian division, involves transforming AI from an abstract concept to a “concrete and invisible ally.” Users do not need to know how the neural network works under the hood; what is needed is for the dishwasher or smartphone to simplify life without requiring complex learning curves.

We can say this is the engineering direction Samsung has embarked on with its new products. Consider the Galaxy S26 series with its Galaxy AI features (Now Nudge and Now Brief), and the entire smart home component with products like Micro RGB TVs, Neo QLED 4K TVs, and up to OLEDs and Mini LEDs.

Finally, it's worth mentioning all the new Bespoke AI Series 90 dishwashers that integrate the AI Wash feature to autonomously detect the degree of dirt and calibrate water, temperature, and duration, while the AI Energy Mode dynamically intervenes to cut consumption.