Life without a smartphone may seem unimaginable, but AI giants are planning to scrap this ubiquitous gadget. “The race to overthrow the smartphone is on,” said The economistand the next generation of AI-powered devices intended to replace it could radically change our lives.
Breaking the duopoly
Over the past 20 years, the smartphone “has come to dominate the way consumers interact with the digital world,” creating “one of the most lucrative duopolies in business history” in the form of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android operating system.
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It’s not just about money: Some disruptors have “long-standing grievances” with the smartphone “tribute system,” which requires developers to pay Apple a commission of up to 30% on purchases made through apps running on its operating system. Apple also pissed off Meta by making it harder for the social media giant to “recover data” from its gadgets.
Many of the world’s biggest technology companies believe a “sea change is underway” that could eventually make the smartphone, as we know it, “past the past”, said The New York Times.
AI on the move
Modern artificially intelligent assistants are “much more powerful and flexible” than “clumsy voice assistants” like Siri, and will supplant smartphone software in importance, according to experts interviewed by the newspaper. Apps will lose relevance when AI assistants “automatically perform tasks” like “making plans with friends, generating shopping lists, and taking notes in meetings.” This “will save us from having to navigate software menus and type on keyboards.”
Smartphones could be replaced by smart glasses, while “ambient computers”, which include “microphone-equipped speakers” and screens “placed throughout the home and body-worn gadgets”, will also pair with AI assistants. “Reinvented” smartwatches and AI pendants that “cling to your clothes” to record conversations and create automatic transcriptions could also diminish the future of smartphones.
But, for the moment at least, the threat weighing on Apple and Google remains “Lilliputian”, estimates The Economist; while there are 15 million smart glasses owners worldwide, Apple reportedly moved 250 million iPhones last year alone.
