![\"Apple](\"https:\/\/specials-images.forbesimg.com\/imageserve\/68cd93e6947b654cbbd6b915\/Apple-Unveils-New-Products-At-Its-HQ-In-Cupertino\/960x0.jpg?fit=scale\")
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Apple CEO Tim Cook holds up a new iPhone 17 Pro at Apple headquarters on September 09, 2025 (Photo by Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
‘Tis the season of phone launches<\/a>, with every manufacturer releasing new hardware backed up by software upgrades, all looking to tempt the market to their platform. Even a cursory reading of countless press releases shows that one term dominates above all\u2026 AI. <\/p>\n The race to establish artificial intelligence on smartphones is one where Google\u2019s Android is in control and Apple is struggling to catch up. Yet there was a moment where that could all have changed. When did Apple miss the chance to win the AI smartphone battle?<\/p>\n Where There Is Software, There Is AI<\/p>\n At the top level, Android manufacturers have pushed AI into the top-level branding<\/a>; Samsung has Galaxy AI, Honor has Honor AI, Xiaomi has HyperAI, OnePlus has OnePlus AI, and that carries on as you go down the list.<\/p>\n Stacked inside these AI brands are the AI apps, and you can\u2019t escape the liberal use of the letter pairings. Xiaomi\u2019s AI Eraser and AI Image Expansion; Honor\u2019s AI Zoom, AI Translation and AI Minutes, OnePlus promotes AI VoiceScribe, AI Call Assistant and AI Perfect Shot; and again, a look through the latest press releases will see more AI-branded features.<\/p>\n Some manufacturers are starting to push back on adding the AI name to individual features, but still have it in the overall strategy. Samsung\u2019s Galaxy AI is probably the clearest example here.<\/p>\n The Dilution Of AI<\/p>\n Very few programming techniques have received so much prominence in smartphone marketing. Yet \u201cAI\u201d encompasses a multitude of methods, ranging from computational photography and machine learning to adversarial and pre-trained transformational generative tools.<\/p>\n Simplifying all of this down to being AI helps with marketing, but the value of AI as a differentiator is lost. Perhaps the primary use of naming these features as AI features is to reassure customers that these tools are present? It also means that the controversy around the training of generative AI on copyrighted materials is not differentiated by consumers.<\/p>\n There was a point where saying the phone had AI was the big win for the market. Now, although all of the features are improved (and new features have been added), is the marketing of AI becoming a tired trope? Will 2026\u2019s smartphone be dominated by features that utilise AI techniques but specifically pushed away from being labelled as AI?<\/p>\n Apple Missed The iPhone AI Calling Card<\/p>\n It\u2019s at this point that I want to both credit Apple and highlight the open goal that Tim Cook and his team have missed. Apple has generally avoided using the term AI, but could not resist the increasing market pressure exerted first by Google’s “first AI-smartphone\u201d marketing<\/a> around the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, and the subsequent pile-on by other Android manufacturers.<\/p>\n