Fast forward to the present day, almost 40 years later, and we still don’t have these robot servants. What we have, though, is AI. And it’s going to change everything. And because we’re a media outlet writing about mobile tech, today I’m going to tell you how AI will kill smartphone innovation.
It’s just like we’ve finally gotten our robots, but in a virtual way. And just like humans would eventually lose their skills if a cybernetic butler were about to take care of them, smartphones will lose the need to advance on the hardware front. Let’s see how we’re about to get to that outrageous conclusion.
A (not so) short intro to AI, algorithms, and machine learning
What is AI, exactly? That’s actually a very difficult question to answer, and yet, every tech company out there is stamping their newly developed or copied systems with the AI badge. Here’s the Wikipedia definition of intelligence:“Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as the ability to perceive or infer information and to retain it as knowledge to be applied to adaptive behaviors within an environment or context.”
If we apply all those criteria to modern AI systems, we see that it’s not intelligence we’re talking about. None of these sophisticated language models can understand any information, let alone have the capacity for abstraction, self-awareness, or creativity. What these systems really are is a very good algorithm that can recognize patterns and imitate them, more or less.
Machine learning, on the other hand, is how these systems learn, put simply. They’re fed an enormous amount of data, and thanks to their algorithms, these systems can make out patterns, label them, reproduce them, imitate them, and reconstruct them when asked.
The last phrase is key: “when asked.” None of these systems, which proudly bear the AI stamp, will even do anything on their own. They all need to be programmed and prompted, and they can’t “decide” to do things on their own volition. And this won’t change anytime soon. So, as the song goes, “Come on, baby, don’t fear the (AI) reaper.”
So, why will these clever algorithms kill the smartphone as we know it?
Smartphone innovation has been terminally ill for years
It’s tempting to focus on the past few years and say that things haven’t been like that in the past and that smartphone innovation is now almost nonexistent. But the fact of the matter is that in the past 15 years or so, the changes from model to model have been very few and far between.
But okay, let’s take the last two or three Galaxy S-series models for the purpose of this article. Below, you’ll find a comparison table between the Galaxy S22, S23, and S24. They are almost the same! The newer models feature slightly bigger batteries, new chipsets, and brighter screens, and that’s about it!
| Galaxy S24 | Galaxy S23 | Galaxy S22 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size, weight | 147 x 70.6 x 7.6 mm 168 grams |
146.3 x 70.9 x 7.6 mm 168 grams |
146 x 70.6 x 7.6 mm 168.0 grams |
| Screen | 6.17″ OLED 1-120Hz 2600 nits max brightness |
6.1″ OLED 48-120Hz 1750 nits max brightness |
6.1″ OLED 120 Hz 1,500 nits max brightness |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in US 4nm |
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 4nm |
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 4 nm |
| RAM, Storage | 8/128GB – $800 8/256GB – $900 LPDDR 5X |
8/128GB 8/256GB LPDDR 5X |
8/128GB 8/256GB |
| Cameras | 50MP main, f/1.8 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.2 10MP 3X zoom, f/2.4 12MP front |
50MP main 12MP ultra 10MP 3X zoom 12MP front |
50MP main 12MP ultra 10MP 3X zoom 10MP front |
| Battery | 4000 mAh | 3900 mAh | 3,700 mAh |
| Charging | USB-C 25W wired 15W wireless |
USB-C 25W wired 15W wireless |
USB-C 25W wired 15W wireless |
Now, the reasons behind this are complex, but now that AI is spreading through smartphone brands like a cybernetic COVID-24, things will get even worse. Here’s why.
Smartphones as terminals and software as a service
Samsung has Galaxy AI, Google has Gemini, and Apple will soon have its own AI, probably bearing some hip name. These systems, albeit far from real intelligence (or artificial for that matter), can do wonders with optimizing and interpreting huge amounts of data.
You snap a photo, and the algorithm instantly makes it look like anything you want. The same goes for the images and videos on your screen. You can make these AI systems write mail, transcribe and translate text, shop for you, and manage the battery life on your phone.
And what are the prime things we do with our smartphones nowadays? Snap photos, browse the internet, watch videos, chat, and communicate, and create stuff or get some work done on rare occasions. AI can now do most of these, or help tremendously, and no matter what companies are trying to make you believe, most of the processing is in the cloud.
So, why pay for all that hardware R&D, manufacturing, keeping factories running, and buying raw materials to produce a phone that is basically the same as the previous one? The obvious answer is “because that’s what people want, and they will buy it.” I think there’s a sudden and powerful change in the mindset of most people happening.
People are fed up with these incremental upgrades and want to keep their phones for longer. Google was the first company to sense this change and react by offering seven years of support for the Pixel 8 lineup. And Samsung responded accordingly. And these companies will be the first to start offering “smartphone as a service” models.
What will happen, then?
The way I see it, it’s already happening. Samsung hinted that Galaxy AI will be free only until 2025, probing the ground for a paid model, and if it proves successful, expect others to follow. Don’t like the photo quality on your Pixel 7 Pro? Buy the Gemini Nano Ultra subscription or upgrade, and AI algorithms will fix that.
People buy a new phone every two or three years, on average. According to Statista, the average price of a smartphone in the US last year was $823. And we’re not even taking into account trade-ins and deals. That’s roughly $274 a year, and we have to factor out the production cost, shipping, and other expenses to come to the final net profit for the smartphone company.
Those $274 spread over a 12-month period equals around $23/mo. That’s exactly what Netflix Premium costs in the US per month. You get the picture: companies will profit much more from selling AI subscriptions than real phones. Maybe they’ll try to do both, but in the end, we might end up with just hardware terminals, called Galaxy AI, Gemini, Pixie, Siri, or whatever, and accessing powerful AI systems through these for a monthly fee.
Do you think this is even remotely possible? Is the end of the smartphone as we know it nigh? I know the idea may sound very radical at first glance, but if we look with a cold, objective eye at where the world is going with the software as a service model, it suddenly starts to sound less radical. Let us know in the comment section below!
