Sorry to be that guy.
Smartphone innovation has stagnated in favor of adopting artificial intelligence.
Samsung, Google, and Apple made AI the primary marketing focus of each flagship phone in 2024.
© Gizmodo
It wasnt about svelte hardware or the smartphones ability to serve as a solid daily computing unit.
Design-wise, that produced a batch of phones that didnt move the needle.
TheGalaxy S24 Ultralooks just like theGalaxy S23 Ultrabut with more square edges.
©Charles Anthony Davis/DreamSmith LLC
ApplesiPhone 16 Prodoesnt look all that different from theiPhone 15 Proyou cant even tell them apart from the backside.
As for theGoogle Pixel 9 Pro, it has a revamped camera bar on the back.
But what will be the cost of prioritizing AI-enhanced performance over everything else?
© Florence Ion / Gizmodo
Can smartphones stay thin if power consumption is the priority?
Wont they have to make concessions for bigger batteries and additional components as AI becomes the main power draw?
These are all questions floating around as we exit the year into 2025.
The Meteoric Rise of AI
Samsung started 2024 right out of the gate withGalaxy AI.
Some of us had hoped that Apple would be the one to hold out on AI.
At least the company remains characteristic about it.
Its notartificialintelligence; its Apples intelligence.
Instead, I got a generative AI suite that makes my photos look like aHallmark movie poster.
Im not saying the cameras didnt improve on Samsung, Google, and Apples devices.
That happens every year with every new smartphone; everything gets alittlebit better.
But this time, all three seem wholly dependent on AI performing the magic to make the picture.
Heres the Catch-22 of image generation on the phone in this AI-forward era.
A smartphone also needs a whopping amount of memory to perform these tasks.
Were already seeing higher price tags on iPhones and Android devices.
Its not just the economy.
Thats not to say that next years phones will be bulbous and cumbersome.
They will likely still arrive in the same tempered glass chassis they came in this year.
They will all have big, bright displays with high refresh rates and saturated colors.
They will still fit into mens pockets.
Theres even talk thatSamsungs foldablesmight get bigger to cater to a different crowd.
It doesnt make the AI worth it if it means piping-hot smartphones that peter out halfway through the day.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
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