Although I don’t get a chance to use every smartphone released throughout the year, my role as Phones Editor at AP means I usually have first-hand knowledge of the trends taking over the mobile industry. That said, you don’t need to try out every device alike to recognize AI as the buzzword du jour. From Samsung to Google to, yes, even Apple, we’ve spent the last 12 months — and in Google’s case, even longer — hearing about how AI is rebuilding the core concept of what a smartphone can be.
Except, is it? With an entire AI-based product cycle under our collective belts, it feels like it’s as good a time as any to look at how the earliest days of the so-called AI era have been going. And while there’s an argument to be made that some of the features are pretty exciting (or, at the very least, have the potential to evolve into something exciting), I can’t say I feel the same way. With every “new” smartphone now feeling like a testing ground for tools users haven’t been asking for, I’m wondering if our devices will ever start to feel like complete products ever again.
Apple Intelligence is a worst-in-class example
Unfinished, unpolished, and frankly embarrassing
The iPhone 16 lineup is, in my eyes, the most egregious, offense example here. Practically every OEM has been shipping unfinished features under early access labels throughout 2024, but no company has pushed unavailable apps and tools at the same clip as Apple. The iPhone 16’s “Genius” marketing campaign continues to persuade buyers to upgrade their phones to devices that are still months away from launch, despite the entire lineup having hit store shelves nearly nine weeks ago.
Not that Apple Intelligence is much to write home about anyway. In the month since iOS 18.1 dropped, I’ve found myself entirely unimpressed with the first lineup of AI-based tools. Notification summaries were, unsurprisingly, the big change among enthusiasts, but for every successful combination of words, you’ll get five more that alternate between contextual misunderstandings, complete gibberish, and occasionally hilarious mishaps. That latter category might make for an entertaining change, but it doesn’t make for a useful tool. And with AI hallucinations seemingly locked in as a permanent problem to overcome, I can’t imagine a world where these end up as game-changers.
Even then, notification summaries aren’t even a groundbreaking approach to managing incoming alerts and messages — they’re a solution to a problem of Apple’s own making, where too many apps flood you with too many pings. It’s a Band-Aid over a broken system, and considering how much easier it is to manage notifications on Android, I hope Google doesn’t follow in Apple’s footsteps.
Outside of those changes, however, practically everything in iOS 18.1 — automated photo movies, suggested replies in Messages, object removal in Photos — is something we’ve seen done before on different platforms, and better at that. The marquee features, the ones being shown off in the onslaught of iPhone 16 ads leading up to the holidays, aren’t scheduled to launch until sometime next year. Hope your parents aren’t hyped for Apple’s upgraded Siri experience, because it won’t be waiting for them under the tree.
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Google Pixel-exclusive AI apps are all in early states
But it’s far and away the best of the bunch
Okay, we’ve all had fun dunking on Apple, but Android OEMs aren’t immune to this, either. While I’d say apps like Pixel Screenshots and Pixel Studio feel more finished than anything we’ve seen from Apple, they’re definitely not finished. Pixel Studio, in particular, came under intense scrutiny — and deservedly so — when the Pixel 9 launched, thanks to its lack of a safety feature that made it feel more like a product from modern day X (formerly Twitter, sigh) than it did Google. And right at the top of that app is, you guessed it, a “Preview” label, letting you know that your phone’s new AI image generator might not work as expected.
Pixel Screenshots doesn’t seem to use the “Preview” label (or the word “beta,” for that matter), digging through the app’s settings reveals its app version to be well under 1.0, suggesting we’re a ways off from a fully finished product. Considering how mixed I’ve found that app’s utility to be in the months since the Pixel 9 launched, though, I can’t say I’m surprised — its descriptions of screenshots are pretty unreliable at the moment.
Even beyond those two new spots in your app drawer, though, everything feels a little untested. Add Me is a great idea on paper that is pretty finicky in real life. You might get some impressive photos out of it, but your friends might get frustrated at you in the process (and, you guessed it, it’s rocking that “Preview” label). Reimagine isn’t labeled as an early access tool, but considering how buried in Photos it is, I’d bet most Pixel owners haven’t even found it yet. And despite being on its second generation, Video Boost continues to supplement meaningful hardware changes in exchange for a cloud-enhanced video that drops all notions of shadows and contrast.
I really like the Pixel 9 Pro — and its foldable cousin — but in many ways, it feels in spite of its AI-selling points, not because of them. And considering the amount of space that its Gemini Nano LLM takes up on your phone (about 5GB), I’m reluctant to keep those tools around in exchange for continuing to test out Google’s AI tools. If I want to be an unpaid beta tester for Google, I’ll download Android 16’s developer preview, thank you very much.
It’s not just Google and Apple
It’s an industry epidemic of selling hardware with untested software
It’s not just Apple and Google. I don’t need to tell you about Samsung’s ongoing Galaxy AI experiment, which has all of the markings of another Bixby-level failure. At least with Apple and Google, these utilities are fairly easy to discover on your smartphone. Nearly all of Samsung’s tools are buried in settings, with names like Note Assist, Photo Assist, Browsing Assist, and — stay with me here — Transcript Assist. I get it, guys. The phone’s going to assist me, somehow.
But after nearly a year, I haven’t seen any of Samsung’s Galaxy AI suite stick around in the public consciousness (though I continue to think about Taylor Kerns’ AI-generated Poké-bong, of course). And now, the latest rumor on One UI 7 suggests that we’ll actually be waiting for One UI 7.1 for any meaningful changes, completely bypassing the Galaxy S25 launch. Those rumored tools include notification summaries and AI-based emoji, both of which are right out of Apple’s playbook.
OnePlus and Motorola have their own respective plans for AI tools as well, with OxygenOS 15 chock-full of assistant tools for notes, photos, and even Google Wallet. Still, Razr fans can breathe easy — since Motorola’s changes would require pushing a timely software update to any of its phones, I’m not sure we need to worry about those features coming along any time soon.
Until it works as intended, you shouldn’t buy a smartphone for AI
And frankly, who knows when that’ll be
At this point, no matter what smartphone you’re upgrading to, you’re bound to stumble on your fair share of unfinished, untested, rough-around-the edges AI tools. These OEMs are going to promise you it’s the future of mobile, the future of the entire industry, and all you need to do is use their apps and wait for things to get better. A revolution is right around the corner, just as soon as the last few bugs are completely ironed out.
I think that’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what people want from their phones in 2024. If Google, or Samsung, or Apple, want to employ me to test their apps, then by all means, I’ll drop my PayPal at a moment’s notice. But what I’m looking for in a smartphone right now isn’t necessarily some far-away glimpse at an AI-powered future — it’s stability. I want a device that I can rely on to navigate me around an unfamiliar city, capture crisp, colorful photos of my friends and family, and keep my entire digital life always within arm’s reach.
Right now, our phones still basically do all of those things, but I can feel the attention slipping. Whether it’s a constant influx of bad directions from Google Maps — which continues to try and get me to drive down a one-way not too far from my house — or the constant discussion surrounding what a photo even is, the era of AI just feels sloppy and unfinished. We all deserve a stable mobile experience, even if it comes at the cost of these companies’ bottom lines.
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