Why AI gadgets are not flying off the shelf
Samsung’s flagship mobiles in 2024 centred around offering fresh, new AI-based features across photo editing, text generation, and interactive search while Apple’s latest iPhones came with Apple Intelligence, a spread of GenAI features being introduced in a staggered manner till mid-2025. For others, such as Xiaomi and Vivo, AI-based features were there in most recent launches.
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Cutting the hype, only around 10% of the estimated 154 million smartphones shipped in 2024 in India are actually capable of running on-device generative AI, said Counterpoint Research. A poll conducted in November by Canalys revealed 31% of retailers do not plan to sell AI PCs in 2025 due to poor adoption. Even more so, only 4 out of 10 users in India are even aware that smartphones now are artificially intelligent, slightly higher than the global average, Counterpoint said.
The general apathy towards AI hardware is even making some smartphone brands hold back on talking about AI in their products, afraid that consumers may consider them irrelevant, or even worse, a gimmick. The recent launches from smartphone brands have mostly focused around their core competencies. Nearly every brand beside Samsung, Oppo, and Apple have held back on making the technology the centerpiece.
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