When it comes to smartphones, we have your usual mainstream players like Apple, Samsung, Honor, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and Motorola, just to name a few. But now, it seems that AI companies want to launch phones as well, at least that’s according to Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon.
AI companies looking to launch their own phones
Speaking in an interview with Fireside Alpha, Amon hinted that AI companies might want to launch their own phones. Basically, these companies told Qualcomm that they need to have hardware capable of running on-device AI, especially when it comes to larger models. And according to Amon, he believes it’s because these companies want in on the smartphone market.
The CEO was quoted as saying, “I have to be careful not to disclose names, but some AI companies, some of the companies at the forefront of AI, are telling Qualcomm, ‘By 2028, I need to make sure that I have the ability to run at least a 100-billion-parameter model in a phone, and I need to have this thing running kind of all the time.‘”
While he does not name companies, it’s not hard to imagine who he might be referring to. Right now, the main players include Anthropic, OpenAI, and Meta. Yes, Google is obviously on that list, but they already have their own Pixel phones so there’s that. That leaves those three.
And out of those three, Anthropic has never really disclosed or hinted publicly that it plans to create consumer-facing hardware. Meta has dabbled in consumer hardware with its VR headsets and smart glasses, while OpenAI previously announced a collaboration with Jony Ive for a mysterious AI device. However, last we heard, it might be a smart speaker with a built-in camera.
Is this something the market even wants?
Now the question is, with there being so many smartphones out there, will these AI companies succeed? More importantly, are AI-first phones something that the market wants? We’ve already seen companies like Apple and Google launch phones with AI-integration. But it feels more like AI was added as an afterthought rather than designed for it.
We can see the benefits of an AI-first smartphone. But since we have no real reference to work with, it’s hard to imagine if this could be something the world will want. Maybe if Qualcomm can make chips that support on-device 100-billion parameter models, it will be a different story. Either way, we’ll have to wait and see.
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