Consumers see GenAI in smartphones as gimmick, potentially hurting sales
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: Akash Kargupta, a 33-year-old Gurgaon-based banking executive, bought an iPhone 15 last week. While he had the budget to afford Apple’s latest smartphone—the iPhone 16, he chose the one-generation-old version instead.
His rationale? The new phone’s big selling pitch, Apple Intelligence, felt like a gimmick to him, one that did not serve much purpose. “Coupled with all the offers at hand, I could easily save enough to add two accessories for the new phone. The AI features seemed superfluous, and not something that I would miss," Kargupta said.
He is not alone. Across the country, buyers are now coming to realize that brands' push for AI features in smartphones is, indeed, more gimmicky than substantial. While this realization may not change the direction in which smartphone marketing is headed for at least another year, brands now face a challenge of convincing users that generative AI is really useful—a factor that could hinder the potential growth of an already-lukewarm market.
In 2022, Google introduced generative AI features in the Pixel 7 smartphone lineup, even though its 2023 edition of the Pixel 8 was touted as the first big ‘AI phone’. Hot on its heels, Korean electronics major Samsung showcased the Galaxy S24 lineup, touting it as “the world’s first AI phone." In June, Apple showcased generative AI features as its core offering for this year during the Worldwide Developer Conference. Also read | Dell banks on AI factory, GenAI growth in India With this, three of the world’s biggest technology companies clearly put their bets on the buzz around AI’s newest subset, which itself rose to prominence driven by ChatGPT’s popularity.
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