The “AI Dilemma” for Mobile Phone Manufacturers
AI-powered smartphones have become the focus of the industry, and manufacturers are facing challenges from user habits.
**I. AI Smartphones Need to Prove Themselves**
AI is regarded as one of the behind-the-scenes drivers for the warming of the mobile phone industry in 2024. According to Canalys’ forecast, the penetration rate of AI smartphones will reach 17% in 2024 and is expected to accelerate to 32% in 2025. 2024 can be considered the real “first year” of AI smartphones, transforming from a “plus” for a single category to a “must-have” for all models.
The development of smartphone hardware is approaching its limit. Innovations like foldable screens have limited effects. However, AI is different. From a hardware perspective, AI models place more emphasis on NPU capabilities and the support of large memory and high memory speed, which means hardware reconstruction and the need for phone upgrades. But currently, users are skeptical about the value of AI smartphones. For example, a survey by SellCell shows that most Apple Intelligence and Galaxy AI users think that AI lacks value during use. Mobile phone manufacturers need to present the value of on-device AI to users as soon as possible, such as launching system-level deep applications. Among them, the “autopilot” realized by AI screen reading is the most imaginative and shows the subversiveness to traditional mobile phones.
**II. AI as a Lifeline**
On-device AI has high requirements for the system, especially in terms of heat dissipation and memory usage. Mobile phone manufacturers take optimization measures such as dynamic allocation. For example, OPPO’s “AI LoRA” architecture can save 75% of peak memory usage. The maturity of the architecture means the start of large-scale ecosystem transformation, and mobile phone manufacturers and large model companies will推出 more functions. There is both cooperation and competition between mobile phone manufacturers and application developers. Application manufacturers have data advantages in vertical fields, while mobile phone manufacturers strengthen their “entrance” status through intelligent assistants, which may change the existing form of mobile phone interaction and enhance their control over application distribution.
**III. Can It Change User Habits?**
Whether users will pay for AI smartphones is the only measure. Questionnaires show a mismatch between user purchase decisions and usage habits. Although they think AI functions are important, the actual experience is not satisfactory. The first reason is that existing large models are biased towards productivity tools and do not completely fit the mobile scenario. The second reason is that the operation logic of traditional mobile phones is mature, and users need time to adapt to a completely new interaction. Mobile phone manufacturers are exerting efforts on AI functions, hoping to explore the scenarios or business models of the next era in advance. However, it is still uncertain whether technology can撬动 the change of user habits. Manufacturers need to overcome the problem of making users accept and rely on AI.
Posted on December 25, 2024, at 5:47:46 PM, Wednesday.
