That being said, I'm not sure the developer community has enough interest in supporting that many AI assistants on their apps (Siri, Assistant, Alexa, Cortana...)
But Assistant's conversational capabilities cannot be downplayed -- they are definitely leading the way there.
A. clueless about Android internals.
B. fanatic about UX above all else.
C. both
It's also why some people are peeved because the Google Assistant on the Pixel can't do some things that Google Now can.
They are good at hardware in ways Apple is not, but both Apple and Samsung are horrible at web integrated services like this compared to Google. I just don't think it's in their DNA.
Further, they are good at selling hardware and the distribution side in ways Apple isn't. They are also prominent in several other important hardware fields.
So yes, I'd say they are objectively pretty good at hardware.
No, they're ahead I think. You can argue that on the SoC front Apple is ahead, but compare the WQHD OLED screen of an S7 with the screen of an i7 (or even a Plus, which is larger). S7 is IP68 waterproof (you can make nice underwater videos, etc.), larger battery (and longer battery life, actually). It also has more built-in sensors (which you might call a gimmick, but still, it's not _behind_ Apple in any sense).
Aside from their screens, I have to disagree. Everything else in Galaxy phones is gloriously second-rate. The compass in my S4 and Note 4 never really worked properly. Their GPS is just slightly better than a wild guess. Their SOCs went from awesome in the exynos 4000 series when Apple was designing their cores to awful in the 5000 series when they had to do it on their own, and they've only recently started coming close to Apple again. Their external speakers are so bad that they've provided HTC and others with key market differentiation. They don't seem to be able to design an earpiece that doesn't sound like its playing through cheese-cloth. And the fit and finish of their phones is 'luxury-plastic' at best.
The only piece of hardware they seem to do really well is their screens, and that happens to be the most important component for smartphone users. But the rest of their hardware? If it wasn't for Samsung's dominance of OLED, the Android handset market would be much more balanced.
S7 is IP68 waterproof
The difference between IP67 and IP68 waterproofing is 50cm of immersion in water (1m vs 1.5m). It isn't rated for swimming or underwater photography. In practice, both an S7 and an iPhone 7 could probably be taken into a pool. But remember that the S7 still comes with water immersion detection stickers inside (or at least the Note 7 did). They'll know if you take it for a swim.
larger battery (and longer battery life, actually)
Definitely not my experience. My iPhone 7+ is approaching 3 days of battery life. When new, my Note 4 could get about 1.8.
It also has more built-in sensors (which you might call a gimmick, but still, it's not _behind_ Apple in any sense).
None of which really seem to work very well. The GPS and compass in my Note 4 were really flaky.
Their UI is pretty terrible. I wipe my devices and usually install a mod like Cyanogen or Omni. But I wish we didn't need mods; I wish we could just install stock AOSP on everything just like a base install of Windows (before MS started adding junkware to it in Win10). I wrote a post about this a while back: http://penguindreams.org/blog/android-fragmentation/
Maybe they are changing again but it hasn't been their strategy as late as last year IMO.
I think you mean "preparing for the day Google leaves them behind."
Google's path with the Pixel, if successful, puts them on more of an Apple trajectory. I saw a recent stat that 9/10 smartphones run Android, so they've dominated the industry already. The question though is whether that would still stay the same if Samsung wasn't in the mix.
Beyond that, the hardware is fast becoming commoditized as everyone realizes that at a certain point, the core features that make people buy a phone will be cloud-based and increasingly with wearable peripherals your fancy phone will be sitting in your pocket while the inputs are worn.
Those who can't differentiate on software and services will be relegated to low-margin commodity hardware providers. However those who own the ecosystem are asserting their control to build what will likely be an insurmountable moat.
As Google establishes their supply chain, carrier relationships and grows their hardware unit they'll soon have all of the pieces in place to become the only true competitor to the iPhone in terms of a unified software and hardware experience. Pretty much every review of the Pixel has raved about its performance, touch responsiveness and camera quality. If you're trying to decide which high end Android phone to buy then the Pixel is at the top of that list. Not bad for a first try that was made in only half the time of their competitor's phones.
AFAIK Alexa is the only one you can integrate with right now, and it's only in the most basic way you could imagine.
I don't know how it will play out with developers, but I think Samsung has a decent shot, particularly given their other consumer goods.