Hiya and Samsung have extended their strategic partnership through 2025. The Seattle, Washington-based firm that specializes in spam detection and caller ID technology power’s the Korean smartphone giant’s Samsung Smart Call feature. It protects Galaxy smartphone users against robocalls and spam calls.
Hiya says its “sophisticated real-time detection and modern cloud infrastructure” will enable Galaxy users to stay a step ahead of fraudsters. This makes Samsung devices one of the “most protected” smartphones from spam and fraud calls in the world.
The two companies have had a strategic partnership for several years. Now, with the recent extension, Hiya will continue to power Samsung Smart Call for at least five more years.
“We’re thrilled to build on our partnership with Samsung and continue to make the voice call better for Samsung customers,” said Alex Algard, CEO at Hiya. “We have a lot of exciting innovations in the works and Samsung customers will be some of the first to experience them.”
Hiya Connect is also a part of the extended service. It enables businesses to reach more customers on “hundreds of millions” of Samsung devices. Through Hiya Connect, businesses can deliver their name and logo, as well as call reason to their customers. This is likely to increase the answer rates of their calls.
Hiya nows protects the Galaxy Note 20 against robocalls
Robocalls have been a major problem in the United States. According to a YouMail report, Americans received no less than 58.5 billion robocalls last year. The numbers mark a 22 percent increase from the 47.8 billion robocalls recorded in 2018 and a stunning 92 percent increase over the 30.5 billion robocalls a year earlier.
This huge surge led to Congress passing an anti-robocall bill which was signed by President Trump on December 31, 2019. There has been a slight improvement immediately after, but the problem seemingly isn’t going to go away so easily. The volume of robocalls dropped from 4.7 billion in January this year to 2.8 billion in April.
However, it has been gradually increasing since, reaching 3.8 billion in September. That’s 11.6 average robocalls per person. Clearly, it’s a long fight and phone makers want to do their bit to protect their customers from such calls.
Samsung says an improved version of the Smart Call feature is now available for the Galaxy Note 20 series. The new Smart Call will also trickle down to older Galaxy flagships in the future. You can enable Samsung Smart Call through Caller ID and spam protection menu under Call settings.
“At Samsung, we are dedicated to making the mobile experience safer and more engaging for our customers,” said Inkang Song, Head of Technology Strategy Group at Samsung’s mobile division. “We are excited to continue our partnership with Hiya to offer best-in-class solutions to our customers across the globe.”