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 mentioned 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 corporations are saying ‘now with AI’ or ‘AI included,’ they’re not telling customers what to do with it,” mentioned HP Newquist, government 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 purpose to make use of AI.”
“We’re getting AI thrust at us, and I believe shoppers are utterly nonplussed by that,” he noticed.
“We’re discovering the identical actual factor in company America,” he continued. “They’re getting instructed, it’s worthwhile to use generative AI. You should use agentic AI. However they’re not being instructed how particularly it could profit them. Till that’s made clear each on the client and the company stage, you’re going to have a reasonably tepid response from first-time customers.”
AI Not Properly Understood
Privateness issues 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 doubtless restricted to newer iPhone fashions, may alienate customers of older units,” he added.
On the Samsung facet of issues, Vena continued, Galaxy AI lacks differentiation from different Android-based AI choices, which can cut back pleasure. “Samsung’s options may seem incremental somewhat than groundbreaking.”
“Moreover, inconsistent person experiences with Samsung’s software program and AI throughout units might contribute to decrease enthusiasm, in comparison with the extra tightly built-in Apple ecosystem,” he mentioned.
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 properly defined or properly understood by the general public. “Apple must do extra to teach individuals about what the options are and when they are going to be accessible,” he instructed TechNewsWorld.
Tim Bajarin, president of Inventive Methods, a expertise advisory agency in San Jose, Calif., agreed. “AI integration in smartphones is new and never properly understood by the common person,” he instructed TechNewsWorld. “Google and Apple have to do extra tutorial-like posts that present customers the brand new AI options and methods to use them.”
“AI requires you to learn to immediate, and it’s not straightforward,” added Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst on the Enderle Group, an advisory providers agency in Bend, Ore.
“So now we have plenty of coaching in entrance of us with regard to customers understanding methods to use these items,” he instructed TechNewsWorld. “I’d count on 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 methods 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 12 months or two, I think 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 client apathy towards AI on their iPhones. “We imagine it’ll take shoppers time to totally 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 presently in fiscal 2025,” he mentioned.
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 aren’t that fascinating proper now,” he instructed TechNewsWorld.
“It’s truthfully not that shocking 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 mentioned.
Bjørhovde maintained that many tech corporations are having an “existential disaster,” the place they’ve misplaced the massive hype and curiosity that individuals 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%) mentioned they might contemplate switching to Samsung if it provided higher AI options. In distinction, solely 9.7% of Samsung customers mentioned they’d contemplate shifting 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.
“Usually, the thrill round Apple’s annual improve cycle has declined lots,” mentioned Ross Rubin, the principal analyst at Reticle Analysis, a client expertise 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 on the lookout 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 is perhaps keen to leap ship for AI is shocking, he acknowledged. “Apple customers simply are typically much more prone to decide into Apple providers,” he defined. “Due to the App Retailer investments, you possibly can’t essentially transfer all that stuff to a different platform. In order that makes the reported higher willingness to modify shocking.”
Nevertheless, not everybody sees Apple’s fan base as waning. “We don’t see model loyalty slipping in our surveys,” Bajarin declared. “We count on 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.”
