Samsung phones in the UK will soon let you video chat with doctors

According to Financial Times, Samsung has signed a deal with the health startup Babylon to offer AI-powered medical consultations on its smartphones in the UK. The phones sold in the region will soon come preinstalled with technology from Babylon that will allow users to video chat with doctors from their homes.

Samsung is paying Babylon for the technology

Babylon is known for its partnership with the UK’s ‘GP at Hand’ program that already lets users book doctor consultations through video chat. Samsung is paying a license fee and share in profits to Babylon for using their medical consultation technology. Like GP at Hand, the AI-powered Babylon tech in Samsung phones will not only facilitate doctor consultations via video chat but can also check symptoms through the Health app.

The service, however, is not free for the users. It will cost £50 ($67) a year or £25 ($33) for a one-time consultation. Though the service is currently limited to the users in the UK, Samsung is not averse to the idea of bringing it to other markets according to the report. Unfortunately, none of the reports online offer any information about eligible devices and launch date. We have to wait for the official announcement from Samsung for more details.

Samsung’s latest smartphones are packed with health-related tech. It’s heartening to see the company exploring ways to leverage all that technology to offer meaningful real-life applications.