Artificial intelligence is coming to smartphones and could change everything. That’s the key theme at Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest mobile and communications trade show, which returns to Barcelona next week.
In recent years, MWC has become a broader technology show. But smartphones will be back in the spotlight this year, as manufacturers tout AI as the next game changer for mobile devices.
Apple won’t be there, but says it plans to save its AI announcements for a developer conference in June, meaning rivals could try to steal the march from the iPhone maker. do. Here’s what we’ve seen so far and what to expect at MWC.
samsung
Last year, Samsung Electronics lost its position as the largest smartphone maker in terms of unit sales to Apple. The South Korean company is fighting back with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which it launched in January with an AI software suite.
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The S24 Ultra is already on sale worldwide, with Samsung announcing a double-digit increase in pre-order sales compared to its predecessor.
At MWC, Samsung hopes to show off the S24 Ultra’s AI capabilities, such as live translation, to persuade companies to adopt smartphones for their employees.
According to research firm Canalys, the global market share of AI-equipped smartphones is expected to rise from 5% in 2024 to 45% in 2027.
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alphabet
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Google announced the Pixel 8 smartphone last October, and is unlikely to announce any new devices at MWC. However, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis’ appearance in the keynote may provide further insight into his AI strategy at the company.
Google has already integrated AI into the Pixel 8 Pro, and has scaled down its Gemini model to a “Nano” version to allow it to run more efficiently on the device with features like summarizing recorded conversations. I am.
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It’s worth noting that Gemini Nano is also what powers much of the AI in Samsung’s S24 smartphones. It will be interesting to see how far the two companies go with their partnership and whether they intend to extend it to other types of devices.
honor
China’s Honor spun off from Huawei in 2020 and has grown rapidly, becoming China’s best-selling smartphone brand as of last year.
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The company’s Magic 6 Pro smartphone will be released globally at MWC after being released in China in January. The device is equipped with his 7 billion parameter large language AI model. This enables features such as creating short videos using photos and footage stored on your smartphone via voice prompts.
But the more important aspect is that the smartphone’s AI-powered operating system predicts the user’s intent and allows users to toggle features with a single swipe, such as sending an address from a messaging app to a ride-hailing app. It may be what Honor says you can seamlessly navigate to the app. .
“This development points toward future smartphones with AI agent capabilities, changing the user experience and the power relationship between smartphone manufacturers and app developers,” analysts at Counterpoint Research wrote.
Qualcomm Technologies
No, Qualcomm is not directly into smartphone manufacturing. But the chipmaker is equipping his AI phones from both Samsung and Honor with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processors and more ambitious concepts.
Qualcomm partners with Germany’s Deutsche Telekom
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The company, which is T-Mobile US’s largest shareholder, plans to unveil an app-free smartphone at MWC. The app will be replaced by an AI assistant controlled by voice and text.
If this concept works, it’s likely to revolutionize the mobile economy and set off alarm bells for Apple and its app developer corps, but the device appears to be a long way off commercially available.
Email Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com.
