Key Takeaways:
- A quarter of smartphone owners (25%) do not find AI functions useful, 45% are reluctant to pay a monthly subscription fee for AI capabilities and 34% have privacy concerns.
- Just over half (52%) of smartphone owners are not interested 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 space (46%) and better camera features (38%). Only 18% say AI integrations are their top driver.
While smartphone makers including Apple, Google and Samsung are increasingly emphasizing AI features in their latest devices, a CNET survey shows that a quarter of smartphone owners don’t find these capabilities particularly useful, and only 18% say AI integrations are their main motivation. for upgrading their phone.
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According to respondents, the biggest motivators for buying a new device are longer battery life (61%), more storage space (46%) and better camera features (38%).
This comes as Apple prepares to publicly launch its Apple Intelligence suite of AI features next week, including capabilities like a smarter Siri, AI-powered writing tools and ChatGPT integration. Apple Intelligence will be available on iPhone 15 Pro models and the iPhone 16 series.
Google also leaned heavily on AI features when it unveiled the Pixel 9 series in August, spending much of its keynote discussing new Gemini features like Live, which lets you have a natural-sounding back-and-forth conversation with the virtual assistant. And at its Unpacked event in July, Samsung similarly touted Galaxy AI, which can simplify tasks like translating messages and editing photos.
While 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 example, 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 with less advanced versions of the technology). But as this new wave of AI introduces ways to perform tasks more explicitly on your phone, rather than blending in with existing features, it may take a while for people to get used to it.
AI could soon cost you money, and not everyone is sold
As tech giants continue to roll out these AI features, consumers may soon have to pay the price if they want to continue using them. Samsung’s website states that the Galaxy AI features “will be available for free on supported Samsung Galaxy devices until the end of 2025.” To leverage the full power of Gemini in Google’s apps, subscribe to Gemini Advanced. And it’s likely that Apple will one day charge for some of its AI-powered iPhone features as well.
Many consumers are not sold. Nearly half of smartphone owners say they are unwilling to pay extra money to access AI on their phone. That’s not really a surprise, given how much subscription fatigue is already weighing people down. Another CNET survey from April found that American adults spend an average of $91 monthly on subscription services. Two-thirds of respondents indicate that at least one of their subscriptions has become more expensive in the past year. Therefore, adding another monthly fee may not be so appealing.
Still, there are people who are eager to use AI on their phones, with Gen Zers and Millennials being the most enthusiastic: 20% of respondents from each generation say they are excited about AI capabilities and find them useful. Additionally, 15% of Gen Zers and 16% of Millennials use AI on their phones for tasks such as photo editing, creating images, and summarizing or writing text. Additionally, 20% of Gen Zers and 19% of Millennials regularly use an AI tool such as ChatGPT or Google Gemini on their smartphones.
Privacy remains a key concern when it comes to AI, with a third (34%) of smartphone owners expressing their discomfort in that area. Tech giants have increasingly emphasized privacy concerns during their AI-focused keynotes. For example, at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple noted that many of its AI models run on-device, which is generally considered more private because information doesn’t have to travel over the internet. When a task requires more processing power, relevant data is sent to Apple Silicon servers and that data is not stored or made accessible to Apple, the company says.
The biggest reasons to upgrade a phone
With AI being one of the last reasons consumers want to upgrade their smartphones, other considerations such as longer battery life, more storage, and better camera features still dominate. Other motivators include phone display and screen size (32%); keep the same ecosystem, such as iOS or Android (24%); and telephone color (10%).
With the high cost of devices (many flagship phones cost anywhere from $800 to $1200), consumers may not want to upgrade their devices as often. According to our research, 44% claim that they will only get a new device if their current phone breaks or needs to be replaced. Furthermore, 30% keep their device for three years or more, while 18% upgrade every two years and only 8% get a new phone every year.
Fortunately for consumers, Apple has not implemented a price increase with the iPhone 16. Yet iPhone users hold their device longer than other smartphone owners; a third will wait three years or more for an upgrade.
The hype for foldable phones 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. But consumers are still lukewarm on the concept of a foldable handheld device. Just over half (52%) of smartphone owners say they are not interested in buying a foldable phone, while 13% say they would be interested sometime in the next two years.
That gives Apple, which has yet to enter the foldable phone market, the opportunity to capitalize on that interest. Experts have long speculated that a foldable iPhone could be what’s needed to drive wider adoption of foldable smartphones. But it could 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. The fieldwork was conducted from August 28 to 30, 2024. The survey was conducted online. The figures are weighted and are representative of all American adults (18 years and older).
