Is AI on smartphones just a gimmick? According to a new poll, most iPhone and Samsung owners think so
- A new survey shows that 73% of iPhone users believe AI adds little to no value
- For Samsung owners, the number is even higher, with 87% saying AI does not improve their lives
- Writing Tools is the most popular Apple Intelligence feature in iOS 18.2
A new survey from the company Sellcell has found that most iPhone and Samsung users don’t really think AI will improve their daily lives.
The survey asked iPhone users with Apple Intelligence and Samsung users with access to Galaxy AI whether the AI features on their smartphones were actually useful, and most don’t seem to think so. According to Sales cellAccording to 73% of iPhone users and 87% of Samsung users, AI features add little to no value, showing that AI has yet to make its presence felt on the best smartphones.
The survey also found that 1 in 6 iPhone users would make the switch to Android for AI features if there was an attractive enough AI-powered feature worth making the switch. Interestingly, almost 50% of iPhone users said AI was an important factor in deciding their next smartphone purchase; that number was 23.7% for Samsung users.
The research itself does not yield any surprising results. After all, we’re still at the beginning of AI development in consumer products, with Apple only launching Apple Intelligence in September and features still being rolled out. According to over 1,000 iPhone users surveyed, Writing Tools was considered the most popular AI feature that interested 72% of all respondents. ‘Notification summaries’ (54%), ‘Priority messages’ (44.5%), ‘Clean up in photos’ (29.1%) and ‘Smart reply in email and messages’ (20.9%) rounded out the list . This research is said to have been conducted before the launch of iOS 18.2 and the arrival of Genmoji, ChatGPT integration in Siri and Image Playground, all of which launched last week.
On the Samsung side, users liked ‘Circle to Search’ (82.1%), ‘Photo Assist’ (55.5%), ‘Chat Assist’ (28.8%), ‘Note Assist’ (17.4% ) and ‘Browsing Assist’ (11.6%) as the most interesting AI features.
Is AI just a gimmick?
Surveys like this one from Sellcell shed light on the broader public perception of AI tools in smartphones, which said it’s still in its infancy and the best is yet to come. As an iPhone user, I’m slowly starting to see Apple Intelligence features enter my workflow more and more, and I expect this will be the same for users of Samsung and other Android devices running Galaxy AI and Gemini.
AI features on smartphones still need a few more years to fully take hold in mobile operating systems so we can see if they are indeed a total gimmick or tools that can improve our lives infinitely.
In any case, I remain hopeful, especially since Genmoji in itself has made my daily life much better. Who wouldn’t want to generate a frog emoji for every topic of conversation they have throughout the day? There are more frogs in my life now, and I have AI to thank for that.