1 in 4 Galaxy S24 buyers say this was the reason for buying the phone
By many metrics, the Galaxy S24 is a success. Samsung emphasized heavily on the artificial intelligence (AI) features of its new phones during the unveiling process and it looks like the attendees were all ears as the bet has played off.
Samsung's heavy focus on AI is already impacting consumer behaviour, per insights firm Kantar Worldpanel. The South Korean giant usually markets the hardware strengths of its phones, such as their vibrant screen and high-resolution cameras, to sell them, but with the Galaxy S24, AI features took precedence.
1 in 4 Galaxy S24 buyers chose the phone because of its AI capabilities
According to data collected in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, the US, and Australia, AI was the main reason for a quarter of Galaxy S24 buyers to choose the phone.
Out of these buyers, 28 percent were impressed by the Galaxy S24's real-time translation features, 24 percent were interested in the camera capabilities, and 17 percent wanted the circle to search feature.
The report doesn't leave out the fact that the Google Pixel 8 also comes with a myriad of AI-powered features. It says that many Pixel 8 buyers bought the phone instead of a normal phone because of its AI capabilities.
That said, it's too early to predict whether AI will drive up smartphone shipments considerably.
As more smartphone manufacturers develop, embed and successfully convince customers of the benefits of generative AI, we will start to see a shift in consumer awareness and behaviour. Whether AI will drive greater sales volumes is not yet clear, but consumers motivated by AI functionality will behave differently when buying a new device. What we could start to see is manufacturers packaging exclusive AI features into subscription offers, charging consumers to access them and building a new revenue stream." - Jack Hamlin, Worldpanel's Global Consumer Insights Director
Apple is yet to release a phone that puts AI front and center and Kantar points out that the company still managed to sell more phones than other companies. This may indicate that consumers view AI capabilities as residual benefits and they are not the main reasons for buying a phone for most of them.
Educating consumers about AI features and the benefits they could bring can influence decision making. But the question is whether consumers would purchase their handset anyway, and AI features only offering a residual benefit? With iPhone sales at a record high in most markets, Apple’s decision not to rush into AI doesn’t appear to be affecting sales yet." - Jack Hamlin
Other reports tell us that Apple is panicking and it's taking desperate measures to sustain the momentum such as offering huge discounts in China and convincing current iPhone owners that they are missing out by not upgrading to a new model.
Like Samsung, Apple may rely on Google's AI engine to power the AI features on the iPhone 16.
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