For smartphone vendors, AI is a newish way to differentiate in a crowded and competitive market.
AI on smartphones took off in a big way this year with major vendors Apple, Google and Samsung among the many launching their own flavor of AI.
The new AI features are changing the way smartphone users interact with their devices and the real world by providing AI assistants, contextual insights from images, and new editing capabilities for photos and text. For smartphone vendors, AI is a newish way to differentiate in a crowded and competitive market.
With more AI capabilities on device and in the cloud, many smartphones included major chip upgrades to support AI applications. In addition to significant software and hardware updates, smartphone vendors took new approaches to foldable designs, in particular. Notably, Huawei launched the first-ever tri-fold phone.
Here's a look at some of the major smartphone milestones from 2024:
AI – it's everywhere!
AI applications were front-and-center in smartphone launches in 2024. The global smartphone market is forecast to grow 6% year-over-year (YoY) in 2024 to 1.23 billion units shipped, according to research group IDC. GenAI smartphones are expected to experience significant growth of more than 300% by year-end.
"IDC expects a robust 344% growth for GenAI smartphones capturing 18% share of the total market by end of 2024, as most flagships will adopt some on-device GenAI features," said Anthony Scarsella, research director with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, in a statement.
Apple's much anticipated take on AI – Apple Intelligence – launched shortly after the unveiling of the iPhone 16. Apple Intelligence launched with the iOS 18.1 update this fall, but is only available on the new iPhone 16. The AI suite also integrates OpenAI's ChatGPT into the iPhone 16.
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus include Apple Intelligence, Camera Control, the Action button, a 48MP Fusion camera and the A18 chip. (Source: Apple)
Apple's AI assistant, Siri, received a boost with Apple Intelligence, with the ability to speak more freely and use personal context for improved responses to queries.
Apple Intelligence's Visual Intelligence tool provides context to user's photos. Users can take a picture of a restaurant, for example, and their iPhone will provide useful information such as reviews or how to make a reservation.
T-Mobile also teamed up with OpenAI to launch IntentCX, a tool to provide insight into customer churn and automate engagement with current customers. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert acknowledged that "the wireless industry is so far behind on digitalization" but said AI can simplify the customer experience and further T-Mobile's goal to "earn every customer's business for life."
Google's Gemini AI was the star of the company's Pixel 9 launch event in August. Google touted Google Live, a conversational AI that requires a Gemini Advanced subscription for $20 a month. But, depending on the version of Pixel 9 smartphone purchased, some users can get a year of Gemini Advanced for free.
Gemini AI can also search for information in saved screenshots, has a text-to-image generator, an "Add Me" feature to add in people to photos, a call summary feature and more.
At its Unpacked Event in July, Samsung issued a number of updates to its Galaxy AI suite. Samsung's AI features for smartphones included language translation capabilities, a way to turn selfies into Avatars, suggested reply options based on the user's writing style and Google Circle to discover insights into users' photos.
As of July, Samsung leads the global smartphone market with 18% market share, focusing on "the high-end market as a strategic priority," reported Canalys, a research firm and sister company to Light Reading. Sheng Win Chow, an analyst with Canalys, told Light Reading that Samsung is also differentiating from the competition with its "software innovation with the foldable form factor."
Funky foldables
On the topic of foldables (is that fancy talk for "flip phone"?), these funky smartphones had their moment in the sun in 2024. In particular, the anticipated Huawei tri-fold phone turned heads as the first three-way foldable phone.
Dubbed the "MateXT," Huawei's tri-fold phone was listed for a starting price of 19,999 yuan (US$2,800) for the 256GB version, and its AI capabilities are powered by the company's Kylin chips. The MateXT includes an AI assistant, three cameras on the back of the phone, and a 5,600mAh battery for wired and wireless charging. It's currently only available in China.
Launched in August, Google's new foldable is the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The Fold is longer and thinner than its predecessor with an exterior screen measuring 6.3 inches and interior screen of 8 inches, said The Verge.
Samsung launched two new foldable smartphones in July – the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6. The devices are 5G capable and can be used on Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T or UScellular's network.
Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip6 smartphone is 5G capable and uses recycled materials. (Source: Samsung)
Samsung said these are the company's slimmest and lightest foldable and include recycled materials.
Critical chips
All these new AI capabilities require significant upgrades to the system-on-a-chip (SoC) integrated circuits that smartphone vendors incorporate in their devices.
Both the iPhone 16 base model and 16 Plus use the Apple A18 SoC, and the Pro and Pro Max models include a faster processor, the A18 Pro chip. In addition, all iPhone 16 smartphones use the Snapdragon X75 5G modem, according to Ookla.
The A18 includes a 16-core neural engine "that is optimized for running large generative models. This neural engine is up to two times faster for machine learning," said Sribalan Santhanam, VP of the silicon engineering group at Apple, during the iPhone 16 launch.
Google's new Pixel family of smartphones, the Pixel 9 model, include the Tensor G4 silicon chip, which is "optimized to run our most advanced AI models," wrote Brian Rakowski, VP of product management for Google, in a blog post. "It will be the first processor to run Gemini Nano with Multimodality – which helps your phone understand text, images and audio." Gemini Nano is a GenAI tool that processes data on the device, explained CNET.
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra, and Galaxy z Fold6 both include the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy processors, which are "well equipped to handle plenty of AI tasks," according to CNET. The S24+ includes an Exynos 2400 processor, which was "designed with AI in mind, with the company claiming it offers a nearly 15-times improvement in AI performance over the older Exynos 2200 processor," said CNET.
Need for speed
For those interested in speedy network performance, the iPhone 16 family of smartphones is a solid upgrade choice, according to Ookla.
"Early findings from Speedtest Intelligence show that the latest iPhone 16 family outperformed its predecessors in terms of 5G performance across several of the markets we analyzed," explained Ookla. "While the performance differences between device families were minimal in some countries, iPhone 16 models demonstrated major speed advantages over previous generation Apple and Samsung devices in markets like Canada, France, Taiwan, and the United States."
However, Ookla noted that in addition to network performance, iPhone aficionados should also consider price and other new features when deciding to upgrade.
Speed demons shouldn't sleep on Android smartphones, though. The new Samsung Galaxy S24 devices, for example, are contenders.
"The Samsung Galaxy S24 family recorded the lowest (and, therefore, best) median 5G multi-server latency in 8 countries, whereas the iPhone 16 lineup led for 5G latency in one market," reported Ookla. In addition, the Galaxy S24 devices took the lead for median 5G upload speeds in eight out of 11 countries.
Rumor has it
On the horizon for smartphone developments in 2025 and beyond are whispers of a potential Tesla smartphone. Analysts with Morgan Stanley believe there's a strong chance that Tesla will develop a smartphone that could be a pocket-sized version of the car.
From conversations with automotive management teams and industry experts, Morgan Stanley analysts assessed that the smartphone and connected car are blending together: "The car is an extension of the phone. The phone is an extension of the car. The lines between car and phone are truly blurring," said the Morgan Stanley analysts. They postulate that the blurred lines between smartphones and cars could materialize as a smartphone with the capability to run AI applications by using the Tesla's compute power.
Following Apple's WWDC, Tesla CEO Elon Musk re-ignited the topic by saying that making a Tesla smartphone is "not out of the question."
Nothing is something
For those unimpressed, or frankly overwhelmed, by the onslaught of AI, foldables and Tesla car/phones, Nothing's budget phone might be just the ticket. The electronics maker released the CMF Phone 1 for only $199 in July.
Just because it came from Nothing doesn't mean the phone is bare bones. It includes a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 5G chipset, Android 14-powered OS, dual-SIM capability, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. However, connectivity options are limited and T-Mobile's 3G, 4G and 5G networks are currently the best bet for customers.
But there's still no escaping the growing impact GenAI is having on smartphones. In a recent report, Canalys forecasted that 16% of global smartphones shipped this year will be AI-capable, and that number will rise to 54% by 2028. That's a promising forecast for GenAI's staying power as a smartphone differentiator… just as long as those AI assistants aren't named "Hal."
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