These days, we’re seeing more and more people control their phones and apps through voice, rather than tapping on the screen to get things done. Qualcomm believes that will accelerate in the coming years. During our Q&A with Chris Patrick, Qualcomm’s SVP and GM of Handsets, he cited carrier data from China showing more traffic from people speaking to assistants than from people speaking to each other.
Patrick described the repeated cycles of enthusiasm and disappointment around voice assistants. LLMs are now able to create another wave because they can understand less rigid instructions.
Convenience is key
So why are so many people resorting to talking to their phones rather than tapping on them? Well, it comes down to convenience. Users are increasingly expected to state an objective without perfect prompt engineering. Natural voice is already really useful for doing things like checking meeting times, summarizing material, and anticipating questions before a session. Patrick said he had never spoken to a PC, despite years of voice assistants like Cortana. And I can’t say I have either; in fact, I always disable Siri on my Mac.
Dino Bekis, SVP and GM of Premium Tier Handsets at Qualcomm, called speech the most natural method of interaction, though precise writing can require corrections such as “scratch that.” A capable agent should interpret those corrections as a person would. His expected long-term interface combines voice with gestures, touch, or other haptic controls.
Voice is also a cultural thing; we see this much more in Asia than in the West. Generally, those over 50 are more likely to talk on their phone than to type on it. This also comes down to the fact that people over 50 didn’t grow up with tech like this; they grew up talking to people to get what they want. In China, AI adoption and the efficiency of speaking versus typing Chinese characters are likely major reasons for this shift.
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