Whereas synthetic intelligence has juiced the advertising and marketing departments of smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung, it isn’t producing a lot enthusiasm amongst customers, in response to a survey launched Monday by a used electronics promoting web site.
The survey by SellCell of greater than 2,000 iPhone and Samsung customers discovered that 73% of iPhone and 87% of Samsung customers stated that the AI options on their telephones added little to no worth to their smartphone expertise.
Customers’ low opinion of the AI on their telephones displays confusion available in the market. “Whereas firms are saying ‘now with AI’ or ‘AI included,’ they’re not telling customers what to do with it,” stated HP Newquist, govt director of The Relayer Group, a enterprise consulting agency in New York Metropolis.
“They’re telling customers, you now have entry to AI. Now you can use AI,” he instructed TechNewsWorld. “They’re simply saying, right here it’s. You’ve acquired it now. And fairly frankly, that’s not a compelling motive to make use of AI.”
“We’re getting AI thrust at us, and I believe shoppers are fully nonplussed by that,” he noticed.
“We’re discovering the identical precise factor in company America,” he continued. “They’re getting instructed, it is advisable use generative AI. You’ll want to use agentic AI. However they’re not being instructed how particularly it could possibly profit them. Till that’s made clear each on the shopper and the company degree, you’ll have a reasonably tepid response from first-time customers.”
AI Not Nicely Understood
Privateness considerations could also be dampening enthusiasm about AI amongst iPhone customers, contended Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Analysis in Las Vegas. “Apple customers have excessive expectations for information safety and skepticism about whether or not the options provide significant enhancements past what rivals already present,” he instructed TechNewsWorld.
“Restricted compatibility, with AI options seemingly restricted to newer iPhone fashions, may alienate customers of older units,” he added.
On the Samsung aspect of issues, Vena continued, Galaxy AI lacks differentiation from different Android-based AI choices, which can scale back pleasure. “Samsung’s options may seem incremental moderately than groundbreaking.”
“Moreover, inconsistent consumer experiences with Samsung’s software program and AI throughout units may contribute to decrease enthusiasm, in comparison with the extra tightly built-in Apple ecosystem,” he stated.
Greg Sterling, co-founder of Close to Media, a market analysis agency in San Francisco, asserted that one of many central issues with Apple Intelligence is that it’s not effectively defined or effectively understood by the general public. “Apple must do extra to coach individuals about what the options are and when they are going to be accessible,” he instructed TechNewsWorld.
Tim Bajarin, president of Inventive Methods, a know-how advisory agency in San Jose, Calif., agreed. “AI integration in smartphones is new and never effectively understood by the typical consumer,” he instructed TechNewsWorld. “Google and Apple must do extra tutorial-like posts that present customers the brand new AI options and find out how to use them.”
“AI requires you to learn to immediate, and it’s not simple,” added Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst on the Enderle Group, an advisory companies agency in Bend, Ore.
“So we have now lots of coaching in entrance of us with regard to customers understanding find out how to use these items,” he instructed TechNewsWorld. “I might anticipate the survey to be unhealthy this early just because Apple Intelligence hasn’t been accessible for very lengthy, and other people simply don’t know find out how to use it but.”
Lengthy Rollout Dampens Exuberance
Sterling added that the a number of options clustered beneath the rubric Apple Intelligence are rolling out incrementally over time, so customers haven’t actually seen the concrete advantages but. “In a yr or two, I believe this survey would have completely different outcomes,” he predicted.
Will Kerwin, an fairness analyst with Morningstar Analysis Providers in Chicago, additionally cited the drawn-out rollout of Apple Intelligence as a supply of shopper apathy towards AI on their iPhones. “We imagine it’ll take shoppers time to completely bake in how Apple Intelligence is most helpful to them and adapt private habits,” he instructed TechNewsWorld.
“This all informs our view that Apple iPhone gross sales pushed by AI will likely be stronger in fiscal 2026 than they’re at present in fiscal 2025,” he stated.
Runar Bjørhovde, an analyst with Canalys, a worldwide market analysis firm, added: “The stark actuality is that most individuals don’t purchase telephones due to AI. They purchase due to completely different options.”
“If we consider the kind of options that AI has enabled, they don’t seem to be that fascinating proper now,” he instructed TechNewsWorld.
“It’s actually not that stunning proper now that AI options may disappoint individuals a bit as a result of they’re not as superior in actuality as a few of the advertising and marketing and messaging say they’re,” he stated.
Bjørhovde maintained that many tech companies are having an “existential disaster,” the place they’ve misplaced the large hype and curiosity that folks have had in them for the final 20 years.
“They should provide you with new tales to try to get individuals ,” he contended. “So, AI is a gold mine proper now. I imagine it can provide us some actually fascinating improvements in a couple of years. However for now, it’s this advertising and marketing bubble the place individuals don’t truly know what to imagine.”
Decline in Loyalty
The SellCell survey additionally discovered that about one in six iPhone customers (16.8%) stated they’d think about switching to Samsung if it provided higher AI options. In distinction, solely 9.7% of Samsung customers stated they’d think about transferring to Apple for higher AI options.
It added that the share of customers 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 identical interval for Samsung.
“Typically, the thrill round Apple’s annual improve cycle has declined lots,” stated Ross Rubin, the principal analyst at Reticle Analysis, a shopper know-how advisory agency in New York Metropolis.
“These AI options are an try and inject one thing new and thrilling into the expertise,” he instructed TechNewsWorld. “However shoppers are searching for a baseline of performance and don’t assume the platform is as a lot of a problem anymore.”
Nonetheless, the discovering that so many Apple customers could be prepared to leap ship for AI is stunning, he acknowledged. “Apple customers simply are usually way more prone to choose into Apple companies,” he defined. “Due to the App Retailer investments, you may’t essentially transfer all that stuff to a different platform. In order that makes the reported better willingness to change stunning.”
Nevertheless, not everybody sees Apple’s fan base as waning. “We don’t see model loyalty slipping in our surveys,” Bajarin declared. “We anticipate Apple to have a blockbuster vacation season, with iPhone gross sales and drawing many ‘switchers’ to the Apple ecosystem.”
“We additionally don’t assume loyalty to Apple goes away,” Kerwin added. “In our view, iPhone customers are considerably prone to stay iPhone customers, and AI options are simply one other technique of locking them into Apple’s ecosystem.”
