Future Samsung phone update could be an AI-powered window to the outside world

"You shouldn't need a weatherman to tell you when it's raining." That's the old saying, and it's clearly something which has resonated with the design team at Samsung.

That's because a newly unveiled patent shows a new feature for Samsung phones, which could make it easier than ever to keep track of the weather around you. That showcases a changing wallpaper which reflects the weather and the time of day.

That uses AI processing to adapt the image used as a wallpaper, identifying the key areas – subject, sky etc. – and determining what can be changed. It then uses a suite of pre-determined variations for the time of day, the weather and even the season, to showcase what's happening in the world around you.

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The full list of options can be seen below:

• Time Variations
  • Dawn
  • Morning
  • Afternoon
  • Evening
  • Night
• Weather Variations
  • Sunny
  • Cloudy
  • Foggy
  • Rainy
  • Snowy
• Season Variations
  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Autumn
  • Winter

The result should be a background screen which morphs with the changing scene around you. The idea is that you'll have an instant look at what's happening in the local area, all tailored around whatever background image you choose, thanks to AI.

I'm really intrigued by this. It's not the first time we've seen this idea floated around, but I think this implementation would be much better. Rather than using a specific, morphing wallpaper, users can select any wallpaper of their choosing, and watch that image change.

Say, for example, you snap a pick of a friend in the forest on a sunny day. With this technology, you'd see the leaves turn brown in Autumn and the sky turn grey when it rains. But fundamentally, it would remain the same image, which leaves the sense of personality which many long for.

There's no word on exactly when this will land on devices. Being a patent, at this stage the answer is likely to remain a mystery. 91Mobiles – the site which uncovered the information – suggest that it could appear in One UI 7, though that appears to simply be wishful thinking.

Regardless, we'll be keeping a close eye on updates in this regard, as it looks like a genuinely useful, interesting feature.