Samsung is making a play for your living room nostalgia. The company announced today it'll integrate Google Photos into its 2026 TV lineup, letting families view their memories on the biggest screen in the house. But the actual AI-powered features, the ones that justify calling these “AI TVs,” won’t show up until the second half of 2026. That’s nearly a full year from now, and in the fast-moving smart TV market, it’s an eternity.
The integration launches in March 2026, starting with Samsung’s new TV models from the Crystal UHD U8000 Series and above. Select older models will get support through software updates, though Samsung hasn’t specified which ones qualify.
For the first several months, users will only get access to Google Photos’ Memories feature, curated photo stories organized by people, places, and moments. That’s essentially a digital photo frame with extra steps. Useful? Sure. Revolutionary? Not quite.
Damilare Odedina
What arrives in March vs. what comes later
The real selling points arrive later. Create with AI, powered by Google DeepMind’s Nano Banana image generation model, and Personalized Results, which generates topic-based photo slideshows, are both planned for the second half of 2026. Users will be able to use the Remix feature to change art styles of images and Photo to Video to convert still images into short video clips—all processed locally using themed templates exclusive to Samsung TVs.
“Samsung TVs have always brought people together, and bringing Google Photos to the big screen makes that experience even more personal,” said Kevin Lee, Executive Vice President of the Customer Experience Team at Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display Business.
But “personal” might not be enough when competitors like Google TV, Apple TV, and emerging AI-first platforms are all racing to embed similar capabilities. This marks the first time Google Photos is available as a native app on any TV platform, even Google’s own Android TVs currently don’t have full native support. Samsung secured a six-month exclusivity window for the Memories feature, starting in March 2026.
Why the wait matters for Samsung’s AI TV strategy
The strategy reveals Samsung’s bet: families will value seamless photo viewing enough to justify the wait for AI features. Google Photos will connect with Samsung’s Vision AI Companion, allowing memories to surface contextually through Daily+ and Daily Board—Samsung’s ambient display features. Setup requires only a Google Account sign-in, and photos appear automatically on the TV, provided Memories is enabled in Google Photos settings.
The phased rollout raises familiar questions about Samsung’s AI ambitions. Will the image remixing and video generation, creative features still feel cutting-edge by late 2026? Will Google have already rolled out similar capabilities to its own platforms by then?
For now, Samsung is leading with accessibility—getting Google Photos in front of millions of TV owners first, then adding the flashy AI tools later. It’s a pragmatic approach that prioritizes adoption over wow factor. Whether it pays off depends on whether families see enough value in the viewing experience to stick around for the AI capabilities that arrive months later.
The TV becomes a photo gallery in March 2026. It becomes an AI-powered creative hub sometime after that. The gap between those two milestones could determine whether Samsung’s strategy succeeds—or whether competitors catch up first.
Emmanuel Umahi
