Key Points:
- Enhanced Meal Planning: Samsung Food app now uses AI for easier meal planning by recognizing ingredients through photos.
- Samsung Lawsuit: Thai consumers file a lawsuit against Samsung over display defects causing green/pink lines on Galaxy devices.
- Premium Features: Samsung Food Plus, a paid version, offers advanced meal planning, recipe customization, and more.
Samsung has introduced new features to its AI-driven food app, Samsung Food, which could revolutionize how you plan and manage your meals. The app now allows users to add food items to their shopping list simply by snapping a picture. Once added, the app suggests recipes based on your available ingredients, removes them from the list once used, and even adds them back after shopping.
Previously, this feature was only accessible via Samsung’s SmartThings app or on their Family Hub fridges. Now, with the cross-platform Samsung Food app, it’s easier than ever to manage your food, shop smartly, and plan meals all in one place.
However, these advanced features are part of Samsung Food Plus, a premium version that costs $6.99 a month or $59.99 a year. This version removes ads, offers a personalized seven-day meal plan, allows for AI-powered recipe customization, and tracks nutrition goals. The app is available on both iOS and Android, as well as online, but requires a Samsung Account.
One of the standout features is Vision AI, which uses your smartphone camera to identify food items for your list. This tool is also available in the latest Family Hub fridge, although the smartphone version is more powerful, recognizing over 40,000 ingredients compared to the fridge’s 33, thanks to cloud processing.
Samsung Food also integrates with Samsung ovens, allowing users to control cooking settings directly from the app. These updates, announced ahead of the IFA 2023 tech show in Berlin, position Samsung Food as the ultimate meal-planning tool.
In addition to these features, the app can now automatically manage your food list. Once a meal is cooked, the app will remove the used items and add them back to your shopping list, ensuring your pantry is always up to date. This automation helps reduce food waste and can save on grocery bills, making the $7 monthly fee potentially worth it.
While Samsung Food is rolling out these exciting new features, the company is also dealing with a legal challenge in Thailand. A class action lawsuit has been filed against Samsung by 119 Thai consumers due to a defect in Galaxy devices that causes vertical green or pink lines to appear on the display after a firmware update. The problem, which affects OLED screens, usually emerges after two years of use.
The Thailand Consumers Council has taken Samsung to court, claiming that the company failed to fix the issue or compensate users, violating consumer rights. Samsung’s standard warranty is one year, meaning most affected users have to pay for repairs out of pocket. However, in India, Samsung offers free screen replacements for OLED defects, a policy not available in Thailand.
The lawsuit, filed with Bangkok’s Southern Civil Court, could push Samsung to offer similar free repairs in Thailand to avoid a prolonged legal battle.
