73% of iPhone owners say ‘no thanks’ to Apple’s smarts: New data echoes CNET findings

Apple is also introducing the latest Apple intelligence iPhone features in iOS 18.2a new survey from the Journal of Commerce SellCell It notes that 73% of iPhone owners and 87% of Samsung owners claim that new AI features “add little or no value” to their phone experiences.

The new report mirrors a similar survey conducted by CNET in late August 2024, which found that battery life and storage capacity are much larger factors in purchasing decisions for people upgrading their smartphones. GenZ were more willing to pay for AI than Millennials, GenX, or Boomers, and they were also less concerned about privacy risks. Here’s everything the CNET poll found.

Key takeaways from the CNET survey:

• A quarter of smartphone owners (25%) do not find AI features useful, 45% are reluctant to pay a monthly subscription fee for AI capabilities, and 34% have privacy concerns.
• Just over half (52%) of smartphone owners have no interest in purchasing a foldable phone.
• The biggest motivation for U.S. adult smartphone owners to upgrade their devices is longer battery life (61%), followed by more storage space (46%) and better camera features (38%). Only 18% say their main motivation is AI integration.

As smartphone makers like Apple, Google and Samsung increasingly focus on AI features in their latest devices, a CNET survey found that a quarter of smartphone owners don’t find these capabilities particularly useful, and only 18% say AI integrations are their main motivation. To upgrade their phones.

The biggest drivers for purchasing a new device, according to CNET respondents, are longer battery life (61%), more storage capacity (46%), and better camera features (38%).

This comes at a time when Apple is launching its latest set of… Apple intelligence Features with iOS 18.2including ChatGPT integration for Siri, and the ability to create custom emojis with Jinmoji The text-to-image conversion tool is called Photo playground. The iPhone maker launched its first set of AI-powered capabilities in October, which include a Siri is smarter, AI-powered writing tools and Edit photos. Apple Intelligence is available at iPhone 15 Pro models and iPhone 16 The lineup (plus iPad and Mac models with the M1 chip and later). iPhone 16 owners can also access Visual intelligencea visual search tool that can help locate things and places around you and show any relevant information.

Google also leaned heavily into AI features when it unveiled… Pixel 9 series in August, and spent much of its keynote Discussing new Gemini jobs He loves He liveswhich allows you to have a mutual and natural conversation with the virtual assistant. In July dismantling Event, Samsung is described similarly Galaxy artificial intelligencewhich can simplify tasks such as translating messages and editing photos.

These new features rely on generative AI to produce text or images or to augment digital assistants, and the same AI has been integrated into smartphones for years. For example, your phone’s camera uses AI to process images and blur backgrounds in portrait mode, and Siri and Google Assistant have always relied on AI (although using less advanced versions of the technology). Since this new wave of AI offers ways to get things done more clearly on your phone, rather than integrated with existing features, it may take some time for people to get used to it.

AI may soon cost you — and not everyone is sold

As tech giants continue to roll out these AI functions, consumers may soon have to pay the price if they want to keep using them. Samsung’s website says its Galaxy AI features “will be made available for free until the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices.” To take advantage of the full power of Gemini via Google Apps, you’ll need to subscribe to… Advanced Gemini. Apple will probably do this one day Charge some of your iPhone’s AI-powered features.

a lot Consumers are not sold. In a September CNET poll, nearly half of smartphone owners said they weren’t willing to pay extra money to access AI on their phones. This isn’t too surprising, given how burdensome the subscription already weighs on people. last CNET study From April it found that US adults spend an average of $91 on subscription services each month. Two-thirds of survey respondents said at least one of their subscriptions had become more expensive over the past year. Adding another monthly fee may not be very tempting.

However, there are those who are eager to take advantage of AI on their phones, and Gen Z and Millennials are the most enthusiastic: a CNET survey found that 20% of respondents from each generation say they are excited about AI’s capabilities and find them useful. Additionally, 15% of Gen Z and 16% of Millennials use AI on their phones for tasks like editing photos, creating images, and summarizing or writing text. Also, 20% of Gen Z and 19% of Millennials regularly use AI tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini on their smartphones.

Privacy remains a major concern when it comes to AI, with a third (34%) of smartphone owners in a CNET survey expressing concern in this department. Tech giants have increasingly focused on privacy considerations during their AI-focused keynotes. In it Worldwide Developers Conference In June, for example, Apple noticed several AI models run on the devicewhich is generally considered more private as the information does not need to be transmitted over the Internet. When a task requires more computational power, relevant data will be sent to Apple Silicon ServersAnd that data It will not be stored Or make it more accessible to Apple, the company says.

The biggest reasons to upgrade your smartphone

With artificial intelligence among the recent reasons consumers want to upgrade their smartphones, other considerations like longer battery life, more storage and better camera features continue to dominate the CNET survey. Other motivators include phone width and screen size (32%); Maintaining the same ecosystem, such as iOS or Android (24%); And phone color (10%).

With the rising cost of devices (many flagship phones will set you back between $800 and $1,200), consumers may not want to Upgrade their devices frequently. According to our survey, 44% claim they only get a new device when their current phone breaks or needs to be replaced. Furthermore, 30% keep their devices for three years or more, while 18% upgrade every two years, and only 8% get a new phone every year.

Fortunately for consumers, Apple did not implement a price hike with iPhone 16. However, iPhone users keep their devices longer than other smartphone owners; A third will wait three years or more to upgrade.

The hype around the foldable phone hasn’t arrived yet

Companies like Google and Samsung have continued to roll out foldable phones, the latest being the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Galaxy Z Flip and Fold 6respectively. Consumers are still lukewarm about the concept of a foldable mobile device. Just over half (52%) of smartphone owners say they are not interested in purchasing a foldable phone, while 13% say they would be interested at some point in the next two years.

This gives Apple, which has not yet entered the foldable phone business, the opportunity to capitalize on this interest. Experts have long speculated that A Foldable iPhone This could be what it takes to spur wider adoption of foldable smartphones. It may take several years before that happens if that happens.

methodology

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. The total sample size was 2,484 adults, including 2,387 smartphone owners. Fieldwork was conducted from August 28 to 30, 2024. The survey was conducted online. Figures have been weighted and represent all US adults (age 18+).