Artificial intelligence (AI) is positioned to be one of the next major growth areas in the mobile industry, as the smartphone installed base climbs north of six billion by 2020, a new report from IHS Markit indicates.
According to the report, smartphones will be the dominant interface for consumer AI, and their prevalence will help push even more massive amounts of data to technology companies. Those companies can in turn use that data to better train their AI systems, IHS Markit’s Director of Mobile and Telecom Analysis Ian Fogg observed.
“We see AI making smart devices even smarter with improved user experiences,” Fogg commented. “Existing AI agents like Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant will expand across the industry, complemented by embedded AI in all parts of mobile devices from cameras, to audio, to machine.”
To facilitate this growth, IHS Markit indicated software investments and partnerships will be critical as hardware companies look to create even smarter AI-enabled experiences. Since vendors like Google, Apple, Sony, Microsoft, and Samsung already have a head start in developing their own AI and voice-assistant capabilities, IHS said smaller players with fewer in-house resources will need to partner-up.
“As Amazon’s Alexa makes its way onto other devices, Google must and will increase the reach of its own Assistant to all Android smartphones—reducing the differentiation for Google’s Pixel smartphone,” Fogg noted. “Over five years since Apple’s Siri first launched, Apple must offer new AI-powered capabilities to remain competitive.”
More on IHS Markit’s forecast for AI can be found in its new white paper here.
