Apple, Samsung Users Unimpressed by AI on Their Phones: SurveyBy John P. Mello Jr.December 18, 2024 5:00 AM PT ADVERTISEMENTEngage with IT decision makers and key influencers. TechNewsWorld's B2B marketing services deliver sales-ready leads that shorten your sales process. Fill your funnel and grow revenue with our lead gen expertise. Get Started Today. While artificial intelligence has juiced the marketing departments of smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung, it isnt generating much enthusiasm among users, according to a survey released Monday by a used electronics selling site.The survey by SellCell of more than 2,000 iPhone and Samsung users found that 73% of iPhone and 87% of Samsung users said that the AI features on their phones added little to no value to their smartphone experience.Users low opinion of the AI on their phones reflects confusion in the market. While companies are saying now with AI or AI included, theyre not telling users what to do with it, said HP Newquist, executive director of The Relayer Group, a business consulting firm in New York City.Theyre telling users, you now have access to AI. You can now use AI, he told TechNewsWorld. Theyre just saying, here it is. Youve got it now. And quite frankly, thats not a compelling reason to use AI.Were getting AI thrust at us, and I think consumers are completely nonplussed by that, he observed.Were finding the same exact thing in corporate America, he continued. Theyre getting told, you need to use generative AI. You need to use agentic AI. But theyre not being told how specifically it can benefit them. Until thats made clear both at the consumer and the corporate level, you are going to have a fairly tepid response from first-time users.AI Not Well UnderstoodPrivacy concerns may be dampening enthusiasm about AI among iPhone users, contended Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research in Las Vegas. Apple users have high expectations for data protection and skepticism about whether the features offer meaningful improvements beyond what competitors already provide, he told TechNewsWorld.Limited compatibility, with AI features likely restricted to newer iPhone models, may also alienate users of older devices, he added.On the Samsung side of things, Vena continued, Galaxy AI lacks differentiation from other Android-based AI offerings, which may reduce excitement. Samsungs features might appear incremental rather than groundbreaking.Additionally, inconsistent user experiences with Samsungs software and AI across devices could contribute to lower enthusiasm, compared to the more tightly integrated Apple ecosystem, he said. Greg Sterling, co-founder of Near Media, a market research firm in San Francisco, asserted that one of the central problems with Apple Intelligence is that its not well explained or well understood by the public. Apple needs to do more to educate people about what the features are and when they will be available, he told TechNewsWorld.Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a technology advisory firm in San Jose, Calif., agreed. AI integration in smartphones is new and not well understood by the average user, he told TechNewsWorld. Google and Apple need to do more tutorial-like posts that show users the new AI features and how to use them.AI requires you to learn how to prompt, and its not easy, added Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst at the Enderle Group, an advisory services firm in Bend, Ore.So we have a lot of training in front of us with regard to users knowing how to use this stuff, he told TechNewsWorld. I would expect the survey to be bad this early simply because Apple Intelligence hasnt been available for very long, and people just dont know how to use it yet.Long Rollout Dampens ExuberanceSterling added that the multiple features clustered under the rubric Apple Intelligence are rolling out incrementally over time, so users havent really seen the concrete benefits yet. In a year or two, I suspect this survey would have different outcomes, he predicted.Will Kerwin, an equity analyst with Morningstar Research Services in Chicago, also cited the drawn-out rollout of Apple Intelligence as a source of consumer apathy toward AI on their iPhones. We believe itll take consumers time to fully bake in how Apple Intelligence is most useful to them and adapt personal habits, he told TechNewsWorld.This all informs our view that Apple iPhone sales driven by AI will be stronger in fiscal 2026 than they are currently in fiscal 2025, he said.Runar Bjrhovde, an analyst with Canalys, a global market research company, added: The stark reality is that most people dont buy phones because of AI. They buy because of different features. If we think of the type of features that AI has enabled, they are not that interesting right now, he told TechNewsWorld.Its honestly not that surprising right now that AI features might disappoint people a bit because theyre not as advanced in reality as some of the marketing and messaging say they are, he said.Bjrhovde maintained that many tech firms are having an existential crisis, where theyve lost the huge hype and interest that people have had in them for the last 20 years.They have to come up with new stories to try and get people interested, he contended. So, AI is a gold mine right now. I believe it can give us some really interesting innovations in a few years. But for now, it is this marketing bubble where people dont actually know what to believe.Decline in LoyaltyThe SellCell survey also found that about one in six iPhone users (16.8%) said they would consider switching to Samsung if it offered better AI features. In contrast, only 9.7% of Samsung users said theyd consider moving to Apple for better AI features.It added that the percentage of users loyal to Apple has declined from 92% in 2021 to 78.9% now. That compares to a decline from 74% to 67.2% over the same period for Samsung.In general, the excitement around Apples annual upgrade cycle has declined a lot, said Ross Rubin, the principal analyst at Reticle Research, a consumer technology advisory firm in New York City.These AI features are an attempt to inject something new and exciting into the experience, he told TechNewsWorld. But consumers are looking for a baseline of functionality and dont think the platform is as much of an issue anymore.Still, the finding that so many Apple users might be willing to jump ship for AI is surprising, he acknowledged. Apple users just tend to be far more likely to opt into Apple services, he explained. Because of the App Store investments, you cant necessarily move all that stuff to another platform. So that makes the reported greater willingness to switch surprising.However, not everyone sees Apples fan base as waning. We dont see brand loyalty slipping in our surveys, Bajarin declared. We expect Apple to have a blockbuster holiday season, with iPhone sales and drawing many switchers to the Apple ecosystem.We also dont think loyalty to Apple is going away, Kerwin added. In our view, iPhone users are significantly likely to remain iPhone users, and AI features are just another means of locking them into Apples ecosystem.John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John.Leave a CommentClick here to cancel reply. 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