Qualcomm Chief Says AI Could Revive Smartphone Market

Can artificial intelligence (AI) help turn around the smartphone market?

The head of chipmaker Qualcomm believes so.

In an interview with CNBC Tuesday (Sept. 5), Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said he sees substantial opportunity in AI, and that the company’s Snapdragon Summit in October could pave the way for major developments in mobile technology.

“The [Snapdragon] Summit is going to be around incredible use cases that we’re seeing from our OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] and phones and … could create a new upgrade cycle for phones.”

“We don’t know the timing, but it’s definitely happening,” Amon said.

As the report notes, smartphone sales have dipped this year amid rising consumer caution, with many shoppers holding off on upgrading their devices and avoiding other major purchases.

Global smartphone sales fell 11.3% year-over-year to 1.21 billion last year, the lowest level since 2013, per market research firm IDC. A similar report from earlier this year by research firm Gartner predicted declining demand for devices in 2023.

However, PYMNTS Intelligence finds consumers want to use AI-powered technology on their smartphones.

A little more than half of consumers would use voice technology during an emergency such as an auto accident if they needed to call for help or contact loved ones. Millennials are the most open to this idea, at 61%, with bridge millennials coming in at 57%.

“This may be due to these age cohorts’ willingness to use voice technology overall, which itself may be due to its possible time saving and convenience factors,” PYMNTS wrote. “But why isn’t the technology as popular outside of emergency situations?”

Part of this hesitancy may be rooted in past experiences. In an interview with PYMNTS, SoundHound CEO and Co-founder Keyvan Mohajer discussed his theory about consumer hesitancy to trust voice-powered technology.

“[When voice AI first started] consumers wanted to have those sci-fi-style, open-ended conversations [with robots], and many were disappointed because the tools at that time could only play music, set timers, tell you the weather.”

But now, writes PYMNTS Karen Webster, AI-powered voice technology has more potential: “Artificial intelligence will make voice interactions smart, personalized, adaptive and engaging. As in truly engaging — conversational in every sense of the word.”

As for Qualcomm, it is working with Meta to make that company’s Llama 2-based artificial AI implementations available on smartphones and PCs.

The implementations are set to be launched next year and will let developers use the AI capabilities of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platforms for applications and move them on-device, the company said in July.