The less time you spend fussing over your appliances, the better. Samsung, on the other hand, would rather users pay even more attention to its devices, especially the company’s new vacuum cleaner with a built-in LCD display. The device connects to the rest of Samsung’s SmartThings AI suite, and Samsung envisions a world where all our at-home tech work on our behalf. That’s if we’re not spending more time and money fiddling with screens and fixing our devices when they inevitably break.
Samsung’s new $1,100 vacuum, called the Bespoke AI Jet Ultra, is a cordless stick vac with stand-up charging station. There are a few standout features, but none as glaring as the LCD display. This will show users your power level and battery life, but that’s not enough for Samsung’s supposed interconnected lifestyle. The device will tell you when you receive a call or text too. It will also connect with Samsung Smart Things to send you alerts from any other Samsung devices you have in your home. Your “AI” vacuum will tell you when your “AI” dishwasher is done with its “AI Wash” cycle.
The base specs are solid on paper, though it’s still an expensive device that costs $300 more than the company’s previous stick vac. The vacuum does 400W of suction power, though the “AI Cleaning Mode” should determine how much pressure it needs to provide depending on the carpet or floor you’re on. Even with the display running, Samsung promises the device should get 100 minutes of lifespan when using the full capacity, 3970mAh battery, though that’s at a “minimum power level with a non-motorized tool attached.”
Samsung invited Gizmodo to check out some of their 2025 appliance lineup, though we didn’t have the opportunity to look at the new vac in person. Instead, we were bombarded with display-filled appliances, including the likes of Samsung’s new $3,100 AI Vented Laundry combo, which—of course—comes with a 7-inch touchscreen. It’s essentially the same as the 2024 model, including the promised 68-minute wash and dry “Super Speed” cycle. And do you even have to ask if there is an “AI”-determined wash cycle?
Not all screens are equal though, and in one case Samsung actually shrank a screen. The company’s new version of its Bespoke AI 4-Door French-Door Refrigerator drops the massive 32-inch touchscreen on the right-hand door for a itty-bitty 9-inch touchscreen instead. It’s $700 cheaper than the 32-inch screen fridge model at $4,000 too. It costs the same as the company’s Bestpoke AI Hybrid fridge—which runs on both a regular refrigerator compressor as well as a semiconductor for thermoelectric cooling, which promises better power efficiency. I personally would prefer that efficiency to a “smarts”, but even the hybrid fridge still wants to connect to WiFi.
The new fridges still detect what you put inside it with internal cameras. The big update for 2025 is Samsung’s fridges now allow you to input specific brands or types of food—such as strawberry Chobani yoghurt. Samsung claimed the fridge should remember your preferences next time you shove a mountain of yogurt in the back of your fridge. While it can be handy to know what’s in your fridge without opening it, the real reason for all this interconnectivity is to promote SmartThings as an automated assistant that will take over your home and the way you live in it.
In that promo video released Monday, Samsung envisions a home life where “each device acts as a hub.” The AI already knows everything about you, so you don’t have to lift a finger to start playing music (selected on your behalf, because who wants to set their own music for their specific mood?). It already knows you have been packing away pizzas on that lunch trip, and you need a more balanced meal plan based on what it knows is in your fridge (who doesn’t enjoy tech that judges your eating habits?).
As much as Samsung implies how easy life would be with its AI-filled appliances, these display-filled devices are a growing burden for consumers. People in the U.S. are spending more on appliances than they have in the past, according to a Wall Street Journal report from last year. That’s not just because these devices cost more than they have in previous years. The WSJ cited Yelp data showing more people have requested appliance repair than they have in the past, and when they do it can cost close to half what they paid for the appliance in the first place. Online repair tech Jim Zaccone told the outlet that “consumers are wising up” to extraneous features that don’t actually make the product better.
Let’s hope the appliance makers wise up too.
