2024-08-14 16:05:00
Can artificial intelligence reshuffle the cards in the high-end smartphone market? In any case, manufacturers are preparing for it. Samsung drew its guns at the beginning of the year with its AI-boosted Galaxy S24, followed by Apple with its announcements for the iPhone 16 in June, then Google on Tuesday evening during the presentation of its Pixel 9.
While in its early days the smartphone market was based on hardware elements such as screen resolution, battery size or camera quality, the software layer has established itself as an equally important differentiator. This is where artificial intelligence comes into play. The latter will boost new features for information search, image processing or even organization.
By the end of the year, these new features will be put to the test in the market: Do consumers really want to talk to the assistant built into their smartphone? Will the new features be attractive enough to convince them to upgrade their device or switch brands? The answer to these questions should be closely watched by stock markets, which are increasingly wondering about the long-term impact of massive investments in AI.
Google brings out the big guns
In a sign of the times, the biggest announcement of Google’s Pixel party… wasn’t directly Pixel-related. It was the launch of its Gemini AI voice assistant, which can search for information in all the apps and photos on the smartphone and hold a fluid conversation in 45 different languages.
Accessible on all Android smartphones (and therefore on Samsung, Xiaomi or even Oppo) and even soon on iOS (the iPhone software), it will be linked to the Gemini Advanced subscription (21.99 euros per month), the first year of which is free for buyers of the Pixel 9 Pro (the most expensive models).
On the other hand, Google has indeed kept certain AI features exclusive to its range of smartphones, such as Pixel Screenshots, which allows you to search for information in screenshots saved on the device, or Pixel Studio, an image generation tool. As for the Google Photo editor, it now allows you to remove elements from the image, or to integrate others, in a few clicks. For example, the user can change the color of the sky if they wish, and obtain a realistic rendering. But Google goes even further with an option to “reimagine” a photo, which allows you to modify the image or part of the image from a textual instruction.
Finally, another feature that will be appreciated by professionals allows you to generate call reports immediately after hanging up (provided that all participants have given their consent). On stage, Rick Osterloh, Google’s vice president of products, does not hesitate to insist on his ambitions for AI:
« We’re obsessed with the idea that AI will make people’s lives easier and more productive. It can help us learn. It can help us express ourselves. And it can help us be more creative. The most important place for us to successfully integrate it is on the devices we carry with us every day. [les smartphones, ndlr]. »
Apple already left behind?
Stuck between 2% and 5% market share Depending on the country, Google has been building high-performance smartphones for almost a decade, but is struggling to grab shares from Apple and Samsung. The widespread craze for AI could nevertheless work in its favor. Unlike its competitors, it is at the forefront in the creation of artificial intelligence with its Gemini model, which aligns with the performance of the best AIs from OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta.
Google therefore has a clear technological advantage, which it hopes to capitalize on. Faced with it, Apple finds itself forced to call on ChatGPT for the most complex functionalities, because it is not able to develop certain AIs itself.
Google’s window of opportunity is all the greater given that Apple Intelligence (the name given to the iPhone’s new features) is not expected to be released until next year, and that the manufacturer has already announced that it will not deploy the new features in the European Union, for fear of regulation. But a big question remains: will an AI advantage be enough to make consumers switch, while the transition from an iPhone to an Android smartphone remains a big step, especially in the American market? The answer will be to follow with the next generation of smartphones.
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