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The smartphone industry has observed a marked push into artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, with companies like Samsung, Apple, and Honor touting impressive AI features with their latest flagships and, in some cases, mid-rangers.
During a panel discussion at AfricaCom in Cape Town in November 2024, Honor’s general manager for South Africa, Fred Zhou, said the company believes that smartphones’ future lies in AI and versatile form factors.
“I want to believe AI and foldables are the future of this industry,” said Zhou.
He noted that most brands only offer AI features with higher-end devices, while Honor believes they should be available on devices that meet a range of budgets.
“AI only lies with the flagship. But right now, we drop the AI functions down to the middle range, and they refer even to the entry-level,” he said.
Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes and Google head of Android partnerships for North and South Africa Vinod Nenwani joined Zhou in the panel discussion.
Nenwani explained that it is critical for players to monitor AI to control what it learns and how it is used to ensure it is used responsibly.
“There’s also the responsibility that we need to ensure we’re keeping an eye on when it comes to AI and what it is learning and what it is being used for, what’s on this position,” he said.
Mendes agreed. He said it is critical that players find a balance between uses for AI and associated risks.
“There are various portfolio committees, etc, on policy, and it’s a little bit late because you don’t know what you don’t know. And so if you regulate too hard, you compromise something, if you regulate too likely. Then, of course, it becomes a free-for-all,” said Mendes.
“Then you run those risks, and it’s finding a good balance, but it’s finding a good balance with things that you don’t even know yet. We’ve got to be responsible.”
Apple, Honor, and Samsung have released a slew of devices with AI-powered features. Below is a brief explanation of each manufacturer’s push into AI with their smartphone lines.
Samsung’s Galaxy AI
Samsung unveiled various AI features with its launch of the Galaxy S24 series in January 2024. These include a face-to-face interpreter, live translation for calls, Google-powered Circle To Search, and impressive image editing features.
The face-to-face interpreter could prove highly useful for people who frequently travel to foreign countries where residents speak a different dialogue.
It enables Galaxy S24 users to converse in person and supports several languages.
It translates dialogue in real-time and then plays it back to the other participant in their language of choice.
The live translation for calls feature works similarly. It allows users to have telephonic conversations in a wide range of dialects. It automatically informs the recipient that the call is being live-translated through Galaxy AI.
Users can then speak in their language of choice, and the dialogue will be instantly translated into the recipient’s language and played back to them. It also provides a text summary of the conversation.
All translations are done on-device, and the smartphones don’t store data in any cloud format, keeping conversations private and secure.
All Galaxy S24 devices support Google’s Circle to Search feature, which allows users to select an object in an image to identify it and find information about it.
Regarding photographic AI features, Samsung’s Pro Vision Engine will provide users with various editing suggestions and generative AI modifications. It also introduces instant Slow-Mo.
The generative edit feature can identify objects in an image, move, resize, or erase them, and then fill in the blank space where the object once was.
Instant Slow Mo lets Galaxy users slow down the playback of a video, even if it wasn’t recorded on their device.
Galaxy AI will generate intermediate frames to produce the slow-motion effect without disrupting the video.
Honor AI
Honor launched several impressive devices in 2024, with two standouts being the Magic V3 foldable and Honor 200 series. While the former hasn’t officially launched in South Africa, the company touted various AI features at the launch.
Honor has prioritised AI, adding features like Honor AI Eraser, Magic Text, Magic Portal, and Face-to-Face Translation.
Using the Magic Text feature, users can quickly extract text from images, which can then be used with Magic Portal, which prompts users to visit apps and web pages to find more information.
It also extended to other media types. For example, users who spot a piece of clothing they want but don’t know much about can use Magic Portal to search for pricing and other information.
The Honor AI Eraser feature lets users circle items they want to remove from an image. It automatically removes the circled item and generates pixels to fill in the spaces left behind.
Honor AI Eraser lets users circle unwanted items in an image. The device automatically removes the unwanted items and replaces them with generated pixels.
It also features various other AI-powered photographic capabilities.
“Marquee capabilities include Magic Portal on Foldable, along with on-device AI-enabled photography features like Honor AI Motion Sensing, and the Honor AI Portrait Engine,” said Honor.
Honor’s 200 series features a triple AI Portrait camera system it developed in partnership with Studio Harcourt in Paris.
“With every shot, Honor 200 series captures the essence of Harcourt,” said Honor. “It combines amazing AI capabilities with powerful hardware.”
Apple Intelligence
Apple unveiled the iPhone 16 lineup in September 2024, putting its Apple Intelligence features at the centre of its launch presentation.
“It puts powerful generative models right at the core of your iPhone,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
“The next generation of iPhone has been designed for Apple Intelligence from the ground up.”
This is possible with Apple’s latest in-house chip, the A18 SoC, which features a 16-core neural engine.
However, the tech giant noted that some of its AI functionality, including text and image generation, writing tools, and new Siri capabilities, would come to its devices with older chips.
“Apple Intelligence marks the start of a new era for Siri,” said Apple.
The assistant now has a deeper understanding of dialect. It can now understand prompts even when users stumble over their words.
The Cupertino-based tech giant said it would prioritise the US for Apple Intelligence features. It plans to roll out localised English for countries like South Africa, Canada, and Australia this month.
Another notable Apple Intelligence feature is Visual Intelligence, which lets users use the Camera Control button to learn more about items, events, and landmarks.
Users can click and hold the Camera Control button to access detailed information about the object in the image.
“All of this is done privately using a combination of on-device intelligence and Apple service that never store your images,” said Apple.
source:Big smartphone AI push – MyBroadband
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