- The new data suggests that most iPhone and Galaxy users find that AI adds little or no value to their experience
- More than 2,000 smartphone users were interviewed by the used phone market Sellcell
- The data suggest that users are simply not interested in AI features
It is likely that if you have a smartphone, it has been updated to include a form of artificial intelligence in the past 12 months – it is if it is not shipped with a kind of AI out of the box.
However, with all the buzz around the Apple Intelligence, Galaxy AI and Google Gemini coming on the best phones, it is important to take a moment to wonder if one of us is really useful of the AI - fortunately, a new survey asked this exact question.
A survey of more than 2,000 smartphones users by the Ullcell used smartphones market revealed that 73% of iPhone users and 87% of Samsung Galaxy users estimated that AI adds little or no value to their smartphone experience.
Sellcell only questioned users with an AI compatible phone – it is an iPhone 15 pro or more recent or a Galaxy S22 or more recent. The survey does not give an exact sample size, but more than 1,000 iPhone users and more than 1,000 galaxy users have been involved.
Other results show that most users of one or the other platform would not pay an AI subscription: 86.5% of iPhone users and 94.5% of Galaxy users would refuse to pay continuous access to AI features.
This is particularly relevant for Galaxy users, because all Galaxy S25 phones are delivered with six months of gemini advanced for free – it does not seem that many choose to renew this subscription. Apple has not yet announced its plans to monetize Apple’s intelligence.
The survey also revealed that AI plays a small role in convincing users to change platforms: 16.8% of iPhone users questioned would go to Galaxy for better AI features, while only 9.7% of Galaxy users would make the opposite change.
However, almost half of iPhone users consider AI as an important factor in the purchase of a new phone, 47.6% saying that they are considering AI when it comes to making a purchase against 23.7% of Samsung users.
IPhone users are also generally crazier from Apple’s intelligence than their peers brandishing Samsung, with 15.4% saying that Apple Intelligence is better than Galaxy AI. Conversely, only 7.8% of Galaxy users intensified to say that Galaxy AI is better than Apple Intelligence.
My analysis – Do people just don’t care?
From the data listed so far, it seems that people simply do not use AI. In the case of iPhone and Galaxy users, about two fifths of those questioned tried the functionality of the AI - 41.6% for the iPhone and 46.9% for the galaxy.
So, it is the majority of users who do not even care about AI in the first place and a general disinterest in the features of the AI of the base of users overall, despite the fact that Apple and Samsung make a big problem of AI.
But why? The survey suggests that the majority of iPhone users have simply not updated to iOS 18.1 to access Apple Intelligence, while Galaxy users are most likely not to be interested in available features. A little under a fifth of iPhone users and just under two fifths of Galaxy users also estimated that AI was too inaccurate to use.
I have theories about what could lead this apathy. The first focuses on ethical concerns about AI. It is not a secret for anyone that AI is an environmental disaster in motion, consuming massive quantities of water and emitting huge CO2 levels, so greener people can choose to miss it.
There is also the question of AI and human creativity – the editorial partner of Techradar, Rowan Davies, recently wrote on a “cultural genocide” emerging following a generative AI, which, I think, is a imperative reason to avoid it.
It is also possible that everyday consumers have passed due to the deployments of prolonged and disorderly software from Apple Intelligence and a user interface 7 – even as a full -time technological journalist, I found both difficult to follow.
In the end, however, I think AI is simply not interesting for the daily person. Even as a person who has a career to be enthusiastic about phones, I have not yet seen an announced AI functionality which does not look like a chore to use or an authoritarian generative tool. I do not use any IA feature from day to day, and as such, I do not expect much more excitement from the general public.
In any case, I will turn to Apple and Samsung to arouse this interest with high quality, useful and ethical AI additions in the future. If you are already ready to intervene, be sure to consult our list of the best IA phones and let us know what you are making of mobile AI in the comments below.
