Key takeaways:
- A quarter of smartphone owners (25%) don't find AI features helpful, 45% are reluctant to pay a monthly subscription fee for AI capabilities, and 34% of them have privacy concerns.
- A little over half (52%) of smartphone owners have no interest in purchasing a foldable phone.
- The biggest motivation for US adult smartphone owners to upgrade their devices is longer battery life (61%), followed by more storage (46%) and better camera features (38%). Just 18% say their main motivator is AI integrations.
As smartphone makers like Apple, Google and Samsung place a growing emphasis on AI features in their latest devices, a CNET survey found a quarter of smartphone owners don't find those capabilities particularly useful, and just 18% say AI integrations are their main motivator for upgrading their phone.
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The biggest drivers for buying a new device, according to respondents, are longer battery life (61%), more storage (46%) and better camera features (38%).
This comes as Apple rolls out its latest batch of Apple Intelligence features with iOS 18.2, including ChatGPT integration for Siri, the ability to create custom emoji with Genmoji and a text-to-image tool called Image Playground. The iPhone maker debuted its first set of AI-powered capabilities in October, which includes a smarter Siri, AI-powered writing tools and photo editing. Apple Intelligence is available on iPhone 15 Pro models and the iPhone 16 lineup (as well as iPad and Mac models with the M1 chip and later). iPhone 16 owners also get access to Visual Intelligence, a visual search tool that can help identify objects and places around you and surface any relevant information.
Google also leaned heavily into AI features when it unveiled the Pixel 9 series in August, spending much of its keynote discussing new Gemini functions like Live, which lets you have a natural-sounding, back-and-forth conversation with the virtual assistant. At its July Unpacked event, Samsung similarly touted Galaxy AI, which can simplify tasks like translating messages and editing photos.
These new features rely on generative AI to produce text or images or to enhance digital assistants, AI itself has been embedded in smartphones for years. For instance, your phone's camera uses AI to process images and blur backgrounds in Portrait mode, and Siri and Google Assistant have always been AI-based (albeit using less advanced versions of the tech). Because this new wave of AI introduces ways to more explicitly accomplish tasks on your phone, rather than blending into existing features, it may take some time for people to warm up to it.
AI could soon cost you -- and not everyone is sold
As tech giants continue to roll out these AI functions, consumers may soon have to pay the price if they want to keep using them. Samsung's website says its Galaxy AI features "will be provided for free until the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices." To utilize Gemini's full power across Google's apps, you'll need to subscribe to Gemini Advanced. It's likely Apple could also someday charge for some of its AI-powered iPhone features.
Many consumers aren't sold. Nearly half of smartphone owners say they're not willing to pay extra money to access AI on their phones. That's not much of a surprise, given how much subscription fatigue is already weighing people down. Another CNET study from April found that US adults spend an average of $91 on subscription services every month. Two-thirds of respondents said at least one of their subscriptions got more expensive within the last year. Adding yet another monthly fee may not be so enticing.
Still, there are those who are eager to tap into AI on their phones, with Gen Zers and Millennials being the most enthused: 20% of respondents from each generation say they're excited about AI capabilities and find them helpful. Additionally, 15% of Gen Zers and 16% of Millennials use AI on their phones for tasks like photo editing, image creation and summarizing or writing text. Also, 20% of Gen Zers and 19% of Millennials regularly use an AI tool like ChatGPT or Google Gemini on their smartphones.
Privacy remains a key concern when it comes to AI, with one-third (34%) of smartphone owners flagging their unease in that department. Tech giants have placed a growing emphasis on privacy considerations during their AI-focused keynotes. At its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, for instance, Apple noted many of its AI models run on-device, which is generally considered more private since information doesn't have to travel over the internet. When a task calls for more computational power, relevant data will be sent to Apple Silicon servers, and that data won't be stored or made accessible to Apple, the company says.
The biggest reasons to upgrade a phone
With AI being among the last reasons consumers want to upgrade their smartphones, other considerations like longer battery life, more storage and better camera features still dominate. Other motivators include phone display and screen size (32%); keeping the same ecosystem, like iOS or Android (24%); and phone color (10%).
With the high cost of devices (many flagship phones will cost you anywhere between $800 and $1,200), consumers may not want to upgrade their devices as frequently. According to our survey, 44% claim they only get a new device when their current phone breaks or needs replacing. Further, 30% hang onto their devices for three years or longer, while 18% upgrade every two years and just 8% get a new phone every year.
Luckily for consumers, Apple didn't implement a price hike with the iPhone 16. Still, iPhone users hold onto their devices for longer than other smartphone owners; one-third will wait three years or more for an upgrade.
Foldable phone hype just isn't there yet
Companies like Google and Samsung have continued to roll out foldable phones, with the latest being the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the Galaxy Z Flip and Fold 6, respectively. Consumers still feel lukewarm about the concept of a foldable handheld device. Just over half (52%) of smartphone owners say they're not interested in buying a foldable phone, while 13% say they'd be interested sometime in the next two years.
That gives Apple, which has yet to enter the foldable phone space, the opportunity to tap into that interest. Experts have long speculated that a foldable iPhone could be what it takes to spur wider adoption of foldable smartphones. It may be several years before that happens if it ever does.
Methodology
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. The total sample size was 2,484 adults, including 2,387 smartphone owners. Fieldwork was undertaken Aug. 28-30, 2024. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all US adults (aged 18-plus).
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