Key relationships:
- A quarter of smartphone owners (25%) do not find AI features 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 have no interest in buying a foldable phone.
- The biggest motivation for adult US smartphone owners to upgrade their devices is longer battery life (61%), followed by more storage (46%) and better features camera (38%). Only 18% say their main motivator is AI integration.
While smartphone makers such as Apple, Google and Samsung place an increasing emphasis on AI features in their latest devices, a CNET survey found that a quarter of smartphone owners do not find these capabilities particularly useful and only 18% say AI integrations are their top motivator. for upgrading their phone.
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In fact, 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 debuts its suite of AI Intelligence features, which includes capabilities like a smarter Siri and AI-powered photo writing and editing tools. Apple Intelligence is available on iPhone 15 Pro models and the iPhone 16 line.
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 conversation and with the virtual assistant. And at its July Unpacked event, Samsung similarly promoted 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 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 (although they use less advanced versions of the technology). But because this new wave of AI introduces ways to more clearly accomplish tasks on your phone, rather than messing with existing features, it may take a while for people to warm up.
IT can soon cost you — and not all are sold
As tech giants continue to use these AI functions, consumers may soon have to pay the price if they want to continue using them. Samsung’s website says its Galaxy AI features “will be available for free until the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices.” To use the full power of Gemini in Google apps, you’ll need to subscribe to Gemini Advanced. And it’s likely that Apple could one day charge for some of its iPhone’s AI features as well.
Many customers are not sold. Almost half of smartphone owners say they aren’t willing to pay extra to access AI on their phones. That’s not too surprising, given how much subscription fatigue is already weighing on people. Another CNET study from April found that US adults spend an average of $91 on subscription services each month. Two-thirds of respondents said at least one of their subscriptions has become more expensive over the past year. Therefore, adding another monthly fee may not be so attractive.
However, there are those who are eager to use AI on their phones, with Gen Zers and Millennials being the most excited: 20% of respondents from each generation say they are excited about AI capabilities and consider 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. 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 top concern when it comes to AI, with a third (34%) of smartphone owners expressing concern in that department. Tech giants have placed an increasing emphasis on privacy considerations during their AI-focused keynotes. For example, at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple noted that many of its AI models run on the device, which is generally considered more private since information does not have to travel over the Internet. When a task requires more computing power, the relevant data will be sent to Apple’s Silicon servers, and that data will not 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 screen and screen size (32%); maintaining the same ecosystem, such as iOS or Android (24%); and phone color (10%).
With the high cost of hardware (many flagship phones will set you back somewhere between $800 and $1,200), consumers may not want to upgrade their devices as often. 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 more, while 18% upgrade every two years and only 8% get a new phone every year.
Fortunately for consumers, Apple didn’t implement a price hike with the iPhone 16. However, iPhone users keep their devices longer than other smartphone owners; a third will wait three years or more for an upgrade.
The foldable phone hype just isn’t there yet
Companies like Google and Samsung have continued to release foldable phones, with the latest being the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the Galaxy Z Flip and Fold 6, respectively. But consumers still feel lukewarm about the concept of a handheld foldable 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.
This gives Apple, which has yet to enter the foldable phone space, the opportunity to capitalize on this interest. Experts have long speculated that a foldable iPhone could be what it takes to spur wider adoption of foldable smartphones. But it could be years before that happens, if ever.
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 August 28-30, 2024. The survey was conducted online. Figures are weighted and representative of all US adults (age 18).
