Smartphone design stability in 2024

Sorry for being that guy. Smartphone innovation has stagnated in favor of AI adoption. Samsung, Google, and Apple made artificial intelligence the primary marketing focus of every flagship phone in 2024. It wasn’t about sleek hardware or a smartphone’s ability to serve as a powerful everyday computing device. It was about preparing users for an AI attack that would inevitably force them to update their phones to avoid isolation.

This year has been marred by significant feature additions and rationalizations that you’ll need a new smartphone to be in line with what’s to come if you want to be on the same page as everyone else. In terms of design, this produced a bunch of phones that didn’t move a beat. the Galaxy S24 Ultra It looks exactly like Galaxy S23 Ultra But with more square edges. Apple iPhone 16 Pro It doesn’t look very different from iPhone 15 Pro-You can’t even tell them apart from the backside. As for Google Pixel 9 ProIt has a renewed camera strip on the back. However, it now looks like an iPhone from the front, and everything else about the Pixel lineup prioritizes the Gemini over everything else.

I like the idea of ​​AI logging in correctly, whether I’m trying to open an app to get work done or disappear into scrolling doom. But what is the cost of prioritizing AI-enhanced performance over everything else? Can smartphones stay thin if power consumption is the priority? Won’t they have to compromise for larger batteries and additional components as AI becomes the main power source? These are all questions surfacing as we head out of 2025.

The meteoric rise of artificial intelligence

Samsung started 2024 right with Galaxy artificial intelligence. It actually did some of what Google Gemini claimed to do, except this time, it also had a new and unique feature that debuted alongside: Research circlewhich became the best thing to happen to Android this year, even before Android 15 came out Developer preview. Samsung and Google joined forces at the Galaxy S24 launch event to keep messaging accurate, while noting that Android would become a vessel for whatever was happening with AI behind the scenes.

Google followed suit, punctuating the year Pixel drops are abundant Which enabled features like “Search Circle”, “Call Screen” and more recently Gemini extensions. When the developer conference took place in the spring, it was clear that the Android platform path was primarily focused on artificial intelligence. Android is no longer the main event; Instead, I focused on explaining how Gemini improves the user experience. The most significant indicator for me was when I fired up the beta version of Gemini and set it as my phone’s virtual assistant. This has caused some of my Google Assistant-enabled devices to malfunction, like the Roav Bolt, which I use to control my phone hands-free while driving. Fortunately, everything Google has done in the background since then has fixed it, although I had to wait half a year for Gemini to fully roll out. It was a shocking reminder of what happens when the company behind your smartphone platform suddenly takes a left turn into something new.

Some of us were hoping that Apple would be the company that would survive in the AI ​​space. Apple usually takes what Google does and undoes it, then explains how it’s not possible because it would destroy the integrity of their product. But Cupertino surprised us Apple intelligence At WWDC, it announced that it was adding AI to its platforms and doing so in the same way as Apple: completely rebranding what everyone does and presenting it as a unique, personalized new technology, though it still requires some help from ChatGPT to handle more complex commands. At least the company stays cool about it. As a result of the name “Apple Intelligence,” the style guide requires that I clarify it every now and then when referring to it, which helps me avoid overuse of “AI.” it’s not industrial intelligence; It’s Apple smarts.

Cost of generating images

Now, it has been months since all the new smartphones of the latest generation came out. We’re stuck with a wealth of premium devices from Samsung, Google, and Apple, all focused on selling this new way of predictive computing. Each platform also has an image rendering app for producing images: Image Playground on iOS and Pixel Studio on Pixel devices. Thanks, I believebut that’s not what people thought when they asked for help with photos. Instead, I would have liked better lenses added to the back of these devices since they already cost more than a mid-level digital camera. I was willing to avoid thinness, knowing that the devices would have to get thicker if I wanted a larger screen. Instead, I got an AI suite that makes my photos look like… Hallmark movie poster.

I’m not saying that cameras haven’t improved on Samsung, Google, and Apple devices. This happens every year with every new smartphone; Everything gets done a little A little better. But this time, the three seem to be relying entirely on the AI ​​performing the magic to create the image. The Pixel’s entire camera system is based on the premise that AI can automatically do what you would try to do in the editing suite. Apple is using algorithms to ensure the image doesn’t blur anytime you press the new camera control button on the iPhone 16.

Here’s a Catch-22 for generating images on a phone in this age of AI. While AI and algorithms can help with battery management, such as reducing background processes and automatically optimizing settings based on what’s happening on the screen, creating images within apps consumes these same resources, even when pulled from the cloud. The smartphone also needs a huge amount of memory to perform these tasks. That’s why we now see phones with 16GB of RAM as standard, including Pixel 9 Pro. All of this additional hardware to power the AI ​​will eventually drive up manufacturing costs. We’re already seeing higher price tags on iPhone and Android devices. It’s not just about the economy.

This doesn’t mean next year’s phones will be bloated and cumbersome. They will likely continue to reach the same glass structure they came in with this year. They will all have large, bright displays with high refresh rates and saturated colors. It will still fit in men’s pockets. She may even be thinner than she was next year, at least according to rumors iPhone 17 And Galaxy S25 Ultra. There’s even talk about it Samsung foldable They may become larger to meet the needs of different audiences. What will be interesting to see is how each manufacturer manages the balancing act between what the industry says is necessary to compete and what consumers want for utility. That doesn’t make AI worth it if it means hot smartphones that fizzle out in the middle of the day.