Generative AI has bounded onto the tech scene over the past 18 months in what some have called a revolution, even as many of the applications have largely benefited workplaces and researchers. Use cases have been broad, with a focus on accounting, finance and a wide variety of general office functions but also software code design.
For individuals, including students, workers and gamers, Gen AI is still on the brink of making a sea change. AI PCs gained attention from vendors last fall and now the focus has begun to shift to Gen AI in smartphones.
Marking that trend, IDC this week projected Gen AI smartphones will grab 19% of the global smartphone market this year, with 234 million Gen AI smartphones shipped. By 2028, worldwide Gen AI smartphone shipments will reach 912 million units, IDC earlier predicted, a compound annual growth rate of 78% for 2023 to 2028.
In fact, IDC said Gen AI smartphones are expected to grow faster than any mobile innovation thus far, said IDC analyst Nabila Popal. Gen AI smartphones “will potentially be the next growth driver after 5G and foldables,” added Will Wong, senior research manager for client devices at IDC/Asia.
Even as Popal made that ambitious pronouncement, many might wonder what exactly a Gen AI smartphone is and what it’s good for.
IDC has tried to answer those questions, offering its own definition of Gen AI smartphones, including offering examples. By its definition, IDC said Gen AI smartphones “feature an SoC capable of running on-device Gen AI models more quickly and efficiently leveraging a neural processing unit (NPU) with 30 TOPS or more, using the int-8 data type.”
There are a few such SoCs to date: Apple A17Pro, MediaTek Dimensity 9300, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Samsung Exynos 2400.
Smartphones that take advantage of Gen AI and AI more generally include the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ($1,300 for a 256GB version from Samsung), Xiaomi 14 Ultra ($900 for 512 GB version on Walmart), and Google Pixel 8 Pro ($809 for a 256GB version on Best Buy). Apple Intelligence features will come to iPhone, iPad and Mac later this year. The Samsung Galaxy S24, introduced in January, runs the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
OPPO 6 Pro aims to incorporate 100 Gen AI features across its lineup, while Honor Magic 6 Pro and Motorola Razr 50 Ultra will incorporate Gen AI elements, with the Ultra running Google Gemini as the main digital assistant.
What's a Gen AI smartphone good for?
Even so, why would a Gen AI smartphone make a difference over any other smartphone? What’s it good for?
IDC analyst Fracisco Jeronimo laid out a few general, if vague, use cases to describe the Gen AI smartphone potential. For workers, a Gen AI smartgphone would streamline tasks like summarizing content from meetings Sams documents, including email threads, to suggest replies based on the document conversation. Gen AI would help manage a smartphone user’s calendar based on various requests.
For healthcare and wellbeing apps, through wearables and their apps, Gen AI will monitor the data from all the sensors, suggesting dietary or exercise plans and acting as a digital trainer, far beyond simple tracking. (This ability is promised by many fitness apps today, but Jeronimo is suggesting something more comprehensive.)
For education, he noted that ChatGPT is already used in classrooms where students use it for content research, summarizing and transcribing. AI on a smartphone would make those tasks mobile, and would incorporate a camera to prompt inferences.
For smartphone users creating content with videos and photos, AI will be used to optimize visual effects.Images and videos could be generated by text. For gamers, AI could act as a gaming assistant.
For travel, he said AI will improve commuting efficiency by analyzing traffic patterns and frequent user journeys and destinations. Travel needs can be integrated with calendar appointments.
All these use cases will have a profound effect on the smartphone market, even if some seem incremental, according to Jeronimo, partly because there are so many users of smartphones today--around 3 billion globally--who will want to upgrade as their current devices age.
“The rise of Gen AI smartphones will become the next technological revolution,” he wrote in his blog. “As the most widely adopted consumer electronics, Gen AI smartphone are set to reshape the mobile experience through unparalleled enhanced intelligence…As AI features and applications grow, consumers will prioritize these advanced capabilities in their next purchase.”
Jeronimo also made a potentially surprising prediction that Gen AI will reduce a phone’s need for apps because the phone will “use data contextually to assist the user.” He envisions an “app-less world that will revolutionize the user experience.” Interactions will smartphones will shift from touch to voice with use of intelligent voice assistants. “These conversational digital assistants, fully integrated with the device, will be game-changers, providing compelling reasons for users to upgrade their smartphones.”
Editor’s Note: While Jeronimo’s vision of more users “talking” to their conversational digital assistants on Gen AI smartphones might be pleasing to some, it is pretty evident, at least in the US, that young smartphone users generally prefer texting with finger typing over using their voices to make searches or to initiate phone calls or text conversations or driving directions. Jeronimo wasn’t available to comment on that phenomenon.