There is increasing talk of artificial intelligence (AI), and the mobile phone market is no exception. By 2024, it has even become a selling point for several manufacturers. But what does AI bring to your user experience? We explain.

You probably couldn't have missed the recent advertising campaigns by Samsung and Google touting the benefits of the AI built into their latest smartphones.

While it has now become a powerful selling point, AI has long been integrated into smartphones without you even knowing it!

Here's what AI brings to your phone and your user experience.

Performance optimisation

AI optimises smartphone resources to improve battery life and overall performance. For example, AI-enabled processors, such as Apple's A17 Bionic chips or Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, dynamically allocate resources based on user needs.

This means your phone can "self-regulate" based on your usage habits. Without this system, you would probably have to recharge your phone much more often, and your device would be much slower and less responsive.

Improved photo and video experience

AI is particularly useful in photography. Features such as night mode, real-time image processing and scene recognition are powered by AI algorithms.

And yes, night mode alone is made possible by AI!

Smartphone cameras from brands such as Google Pixel and Huawei are capable of capturing high-quality images in low-light conditions thanks to AI processing that improves detail, colour balance, and image sharpness.

Blurry or poorly lit photos are a thing of the past, thanks to AI!

Virtual assistants and voice interactions

This is a feature found in all smartphones today. While some AI-related features are not "visible", this one offers a direct experience with the user.

Intelligent assistants such as Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa rely on AI models to understand and respond to voice commands in a more fluid and natural way.

Beyond voice interaction, AI enables these assistants to learn user habits, offer contextual suggestions, and manage complex tasks such as navigation or information retrieval with greater accuracy.

Facial recognition and security

AI also improves smartphone security with advanced facial recognition technologies such as Face ID on iPhones. These systems use AI to map facial features with extreme precision, providing a fast and secure unlocking method.

Augmented reality (AR) applications

Smartphones use AI to deliver smoother augmented reality experiences. For example, shopping or gaming applications allow users to interact with virtual objects in the real world, thanks to AI-enabled object and motion detection.

The various key AI features by brand

Apple iPhone 15 Pro / Pro Max

A17 Bionic chip: AI integration to improve energy management, image processing, and facial recognition via Face ID.

The famous Face ID has been installed since 2017 with the release of the iPhone X and continues to improve with each generation.

Image processing has also improved, with night mode, automatic light and focus correction, and cinematic mode. Yes, all this is thanks to AI!

With the arrival of iOS 18, Apple goes even further in organising your photo library by offering albums that automatically group together photos of your loved ones that it recognises, your pets, events, or places.

Google Pixel 8 and 9

Tensor G3 chip: AI image processing for photos, features such as Magic Eraser and real-time photo enhancements.

In practical terms, you can make professional-quality edits directly in your image gallery. With the Google Pixel 9, you can even reconstruct a photo from two photos. This is the key selling point of their latest advertising campaign: anyone who takes a photo of their family can now be in the photo with them by taking a photo of themselves, and then reconstructing a group photo!

LikeApple, Google is focusing heavily on photo quality by integrating automatic corrections into image processing.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

AI for the camera: automatic scene optimisation, better low-light photo management, and battery adjustment to extend battery life.

When it comes to processing your photos, as you can see, manufacturers can no longer ignore AI, which allows users to take increasingly beautiful, professional-quality photos.

At Samsung, the focus is more on battery life. Compared to the Apple, users are unanimous: the battery life is much better!

Huawei P60 Pro

Kirin 9000s with AI: Optimised photography with multi-frame processing and intelligent analysis of shooting conditions.

OnePlus 11

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2: AI to improve gaming performance, automatic resource adjustment, and photo optimisation.

All these smartphones use AI in areas such as photography, voice recognition, security and performance optimisation to offer a better user experience. While the use of AI is similar across brands, each one tries to stand out from the crowd with its own gadgets or features. But overall, AI has become a permanent feature in the performance of the most popular devices on the market.

While some of the features offered by AI are not noticeable to the user, they do provide a much better experience than older generations of smartphones that did not have them.

AI innovation will continue and redefine the way we interact with our devices, making smartphones more intuitive and powerful. Manufacturers are therefore in a race to develop new features ahead of their competitors and make their smartphones the most innovative devices on the market.