71 Percent of Smartphones Sold in 2021 will be AI Powered

On-device Artificial Intelligence is being rapidly implemented by smartphone vendors, according to Strategy Analytics. AI is used in various functions inside smartphones such as intelligent power optimization, imaging, virtual assistants, and to enhance device performance.

The report highlights the fact that AI has become the most important technology in modern smartphones. The push to add on-device AI computational power to enable Edge AI computing is a priority for smartphone and chipset vendors.

“We estimate that 71% of all smartphones sold worldwide in 2021 will have on-device AI,“ said associate director at Strategy Analytics Ville-Petteri Ukonaho. “Advantages of on-device AI computing include lower latency, better data privacy and overall lower power consumption.“

“AI has become a key technology in higher-end smartphones,“ said Ken Hyers, director at Strategy Analytics. “A smartphone equipped with on-device AI can significantly improve important tasks like helping users take better pictures, deliver longer battery life through efficient power management, improve the speed of response by digital assistants, and power Augmented Reality, among other tasks. This makes smartphones more useful tools for users.“

Strategy Analytics finds in its latest report that technologies such as 5G will greatly benefit from the new capabilities improved by AI and vice versa. With the help of 5G and AI, smartphones have become integral part of a large device ecosystem enabling them to share data and communicate with each other.