INTELLIGENT MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

GenAI smartphones will not bolster smartphone demand until 2027 . The enhancements to smartphones evolve the current experiences with cameras and voice integration , but these capabilities are expected by users rather than demonstrating a new groundbreaking functionality . Users have the same expectation for the functionality of GenAI on their smartphone . They are unlikely to pay a premium for GenAI smartphones without the availability of any groundbreaking applications .

The catalyst for transformative shifts in user experience lies in the advancement of smaller versions of large language models , LLMs specifically tailored for smartphones . This evolution will transform smartphones into even more intuitive companions capable of comprehending and responding to human language and visual cues , which will elevate the overall user experience to new heights .

The smartphone market recorded its first quarter of growth in 4Q23 after nine consecutive quarters of decline . In 2024 , worldwide smartphone shipments are expected to grow 4.2 %, totalling 1.2 billion units year over year .

“ We should not interpret the growth in smartphone shipments as a full-fledged recovery ,” said Ranjit Atwal , Senior Director Analyst at Gartner . “ It is more accurate to view it as a stabilisation of lower level of units , which are nearly 60 million lower than in 2022 .”

The integration of AI into PCs is not expected to drive end-user spending beyond anticipated price increases . Business device buyers will demand compelling reasons to invest . However , it will take time for software providers to harness the power of on-device AI and clearly demonstrate its enhanced benefits .

The PC market returned to growth in the fourth quarter of 2023 after eight consecutive quarters of decline . Gartner estimates overall PC shipments will total 250.4 million units in 2024 , a 3.5 % increase from 2023 . On-device AI should rejuvenate the marketing of PCs through 2024 and help sustain existing anticipated replacement cycles , negating some of the negative effects of a disruptive socioeconomic environment .

Gartner defines AI PCs as PCs that are equipped with dedicated AI accelerators or cores , neural processing units , NPUs , accelerated processing units , APUs or tensor processing units , TPUs , designed to optimise and accelerate AI tasks on the device . This provides improved performance and efficiency in handling AI and GenAI

Ranjit Atwal , Senior Director Analyst , Gartner

workloads without relying on external servers or cloud services .

GenAI smartphones are designed smartphones equipped with hardware and software capabilities that enable seamless integration and efficient execution of GenAIdriven features and applications on the smartphone . These smartphones are capable of locally running a base or fine-tuned AI model that generates new derived versions of content , strategies , designs and methods . Examples of this include Gemini Nano from Google , ERNIE from Baidu and OpenAI ’ s GPT-4 .

“ The rapid adoption of on-device GenAI capabilities and AI processors will eventually become a standard requirement for technology vendors ,” said Atwal . “ This ubiquity will pose challenges for vendors in differentiating themselves from competitors , making it harder to create unique selling points and drive increased revenues .” •

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