Samsung’s The Frame soon won’t be the only TV in its wheelhouse with art-based wallpaper capabilities as it's introducing a new feature that lets you create your own backgrounds using generative AI.
The new feature called Generative Wallpaper will roll out on the 2024 Samsung TV lineup beginning this month. It will only be available in Ambient Mode, which sort of turns your TV into a phone lock screen with widgets that show the time and weather and even display the pattern behind the display.
It’s all to make the TV experience much more enjoyable and meaningful in a world where, 75% or more of the time, it’s just a simple black box in the middle of your living room. Other companies are following suit, including Roku with its Backdrops feature, Hisense and its new CanvasTV, and even TLC's NXTFrame.
Samsung gave no word on whether the Generative Wallpaper feature might find its way onto older TV models, given its previous stance on updating 2023 TVs and later to the modern Tizen OS firmware. The new mode might only be available on 2024 Samsung TVs and will most probably be available on upcoming 2025 models.
Samsung condenses The Frame into a new feature
Some of the best Samsung TVs are already resplendent with many fantastic, game-changing features. After all, Samsung is among the leading TV manufacturers, with a purported 270 million users of its Tizen OS interface. Coming to the platform is a whole new way of personalizing your TV experience, and it starts with bringing the art museum home with you.
Samsung's new Generative Wallpaper feature lets you customize the background on your display using, as the name infers, generative AI to better highlight your personal tastes. This ensures that your living room isn't left awash in the dull blank screen on your TV and can come to life in extraordinary ways.
It announced the new feature in a blog post, citing its potential to bring "high-quality visuals that seamlessly integrate with home décor." Generative Wallpaper is only available in Ambient Mode and is set to arrive on 2024 Samsung TVs starting this month for those based in North America, Europe, and South Korea.
The new feature arrives on the heels of several Samsung The Frame copycats releases. A frenzy of art-fueled TV screensavers is ever on the rise, with Hisense, TCL, and even Roku diving into the mix with hardware and software-related options to mirror art-based TV backgrounds revolutionized by The Frame.
It's an exceedingly popular market; even those aforementioned TV makers aren't alone. The best Fire TV devices now have similar art screensavers following its launch of a similar feature in 2023. And even Google TV has its own AI screensaver generator that went live only two weeks prior.
Samsung did not say if the Generative Wallpaper feature might make its way onto older TVs. It did announce a seven-year update path for its displays, which could mean the feature will make its way alongside the updated Tizen OS on models in the past 2023, though Samsung itself has not confirmed this. Tom's Guide has reached out for clarification.
Note that your interface might be changing on some Samsung TVs. Samsung is slowly rolling out its new One UI update to various devices, including TVs. This could mean that updating your software for Generative Wallpaper might conflict with the One UI update, and getting the new feature might prove a bit more complicated, but to find it, just head to Ambient Mode to start personalizing your home display the right way.
