Samsung partners with Disney to bring familiar faces to its AR Emoji feature

Samsung announced its own take on Animoji today, and thanks to its partnership with Disney, we should see a few familiar characters like Mickey Mouse.

Samsung just unveiled the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, two of the most highly-anticipated phones of 2018, and along with them, we saw the introduction of AR Emoji. Essentially Samsung’s take on Apple’s Animoji feature, AR Emoji lets you create a 3D emoji version of yourself, which mirrors your movements and facial expressions, not unlike Apple’s Animoji. In a way, however, AR Emoji is a combination of Snapchat’s Bitmoji and Apple’s Animoji because it aims to replicate your facial features and create an adaptive 3D avatar of you.

However, as we learned from Samsung’s presentation earlier today, Galaxy S9 users will also have the option to create emoji versions of themselves through more familiar characters: Disney characters, to be more specific. Samsung has partnered with Disney to bring a library of all-time favorite Disney characters to its AR Emoji feature. Although details are scarce at the moment, judging by the company’s presentation from today, Mickey Mouse will definitely be one of the characters available. Similar to regular AR Emoji, users would simply take a selfie and have the front-facing camera analyze their facial structures to create advanced 3D emoji.

Samsung’s partnership with Disney is big news, not just for consumers but also for those in the business world. Disney and Apple have had a long-standing relationship, and it’s not an unknown fact that Disney’s CEO Bob Iger is a member of Apple’s board. While it remains to be seen whether Disney’s characters will remain exclusive to Samsung devices, their partnership certainly won’t hurt Galaxy S9’s sales.