Most iPhone Owners See Little To No Value In Apple Intelligence

An anonymous reader quotes a report from 9to5Mac: A new survey suggests that Apple Intelligence matters to iPhone buyers, but the majority say that the initial features add little to no value. It remains to be seen whether Genmoji and ChatGPT integration will change that view. Things are even worse for Samsung smartphones, with an even greater majority of owners saying they can't see much point in the AI features offered

A new survey by tech trade-in site SellCell found that AI is an important factor when choosing a new smartphone: "iPhone users showed relatively higher interest in mobile AI than Samsung users as almost half (47.6%) of iPhone users reported AI features as a 'very' or 'somewhat' important deciding factor when buying a new phone vs. 23.7% of Samsung users who said the same." "Smartphone users in general are unsatisfied with the existing AI features as the survey recorded 73% of Apple Intelligence users and 87% of Galaxy AI users stating the new features to be either 'not very valuable' or they 'add little to no value' to their smartphone experience," reports SellCell.

According to the survey, these are the most popular Apple Intelligence features:
- Writing Tools (72%)
- Notification summaries (54%)
- Priority Messages (44.5%)
- Clean Up in Photos (29.1%)
- Smart Reply in Mail and Messages (20.9%)

It means you need the latest iPhone

[OffTheLip]

In case more clarity is needed.

Re: It means you need the latest iPhone

[saloomy]

Right. People wont want it until they get it and start using it. Then you wont be able to live without it in a few years.

Damn you autocarrot

[TWX]

After the disaster that is autocarrot^H^H^H^H^H^Hcorrect I can see why people are skeptical. AI has become the new buzzword but what makes the news are examples of plagiarism, disqualification or other academic penalty for having used in an inappropriate context, bigotry, threats, and hate speech, and lastly flat out being incorrect and providing garbage results that look genuine on the surface of it but are broken.

For the way most of us would interact with AI, it's simply a tool to let a company pay less in salary to actual people who will do the job, but without the company even going through the motions to verify that the results generated are even any good.

I have no doubt that for some researchers working with absolutely massive datasets, AI could help to perform initial analysis in a way that would take people a whole lot longer than if they were doing it the old fashioned way, and with a greater likelihood of that program finding something compared to if dozens of people were working and failed to compare notes to spot such patterns, but that's not a customer-facing use of AI. The people using AI in that context are themselves already AI researchers by and large too.

There's just not a lot of reason to trust the results. They're too often wrong or ill-suited and trusted without a healthy grain of salt people are going to be steered wrong by them. Better to not use them at all if that's the end result.

Alot of AI is a solution searching for a problem

[Dan667]

apple intelligence looks to be yet another AI solution searching for a problem. Good luck with that.

Re:

[omnichad]

I wouldn't even call it that much. It's really a buzzword searching for a use case. They don't have a solution to anything yet as far as I'm aware.

I think the key applications are obvious

[rsilvergun]

The first and most obvious is automation, particularly of jobs that previously couldn't be automated. Remember the good enough is always good enough.

But from an end user standpoint the key application is a search function people who are just barely literate can use. I hate to admit it but some software at work had an "AI" search feature that spared me from having to learn the frankly ghastly syntax of a case system I needed access to for a single query. I could have dug through the rather terrible docum

Same here

[KlomDark]

I've got the AI-enabled Galaxy S24 Ultra. I've used the AI stuff about twice, one use simply to create a custom wallpaper for the phone. Beyond that, I just don't get the point. Same with the new Copilot AI that's shown up in Windows, not a clue what good it does me. And I curse a lot, so that always gets me the lame "Sorry, I can't continue this conversation" which is ridiculous, not like you're going to hurt a machine's feelings.

Re:

[KlomDark]

I'm descended from Vikings, it's part of our culture and semi-required.

Where is the value proposition?

[BishopBerkeley]

Apple is exploring that question with Apple Intelligence. FWIW, I find it extremely valuable. Apple Intelligence doesn't just manifest itself in choosing appropriate and tactful smart replies or building a table based on text. It manifests itself in knowing your daily routines and automatically broadcasting to the Airplay speaker(s) near you based on your music streaming habits.

These surveys are meaningless because they do not capture the sort of data that Apple captures from usage data. How will we know which AI features are useful and which ones are not? When Apple releases the next revision in iOS 19 and we see which features were retained and which ones were axed. It's going to take months and years for people to figure out how they will use these new features to their benefit. Apple knows this better than anyone. This short term survey conducted by an agency with what seems to have an agenda is meaningless. You might as well ask Trump voters which presidential accomplishments of his they admire most. (See, he hasn't been sworn in yet.)

Re:

[dgatwood]

These surveys are meaningless because they do not capture the sort of data that Apple captures from usage data. How will we know which AI features are useful and which ones are not?

You're assuming any of them will be useful. If they were useful, I'd argue that someone would have done them already.

There are two types of AI features: Features that became possible because of AI and features that were conceived because of AI. Features that are something that people have always wanted to do and suddenly became practical because of AI are rather likely to be useful. Unfortunately, nearly all features fall into the second category, which includes every feature where the conversation began

Re:

[newcastlejon]

It manifests itself in knowing your daily routines and automatically broadcasting to the Airplay speaker(s) near you based on your music streaming habits.

I used to have expected travel times to and from work each day showing up on my lock screen, then one day I noticed that it was showing them for the supermarket I went to each weekend. iPhones were "learning" my habits years ago, no Apple Intelligence required.

Re:

[brickhouse98]

Yes but how else could we ensure even more global warming if we didn't have specific algorithms and instead used power hungry "AI" servers to parrot the same information but only do it with 50% accuracy?

United at Last

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple, Android, Nokia, BlackBerry, and Rotary-phone users: United at last!
#epicHandshakeMeme

Apple is implementing it the right way

[SmaryJerry]

AI features should always have been free for basic usage, with a charge for abuse of them or over-usage. This model is so much more consumer friendly. The Microsoft has set up copilot is horrible for the amount of use most people use it. Only a programmer or an image or video creator will use those features in their day to day work and need to buy a subscription.

If it works...

[commodore73]

I won't pay, but if it works, it's worth a few cents. I like taking pictures of unknown things and asking what they are. I learn a lot this way. Don't worry, someone will find a way to generate real value with this. But I don't see the ROI for fruitcorp if it doesn't increase phone sales. I don't see anyone dumping a working phone to spend hundreds on this.

Proposed utility for phone AI

[will4]

Not everyone can be coached in interviews via an earpiece like politicians, so you too can impress your friends, close sales deals; win over potential partners with the 10 step program of letting the AI in your phone listen into your conversations and tell you what best to say in every situation.

Is it really useful yet?

[Early Six Digit UID]

I don't have an iPhone, but I do have a modern Android phone and I just don't really see how it's useful on a day to day basis. It's fun to play with for a bit, but I'm not sure I really see a killer application for it yet. Things like ChatGPT are neat and sound like they know what they're talking about until they start talking about something *you* know about, then the mask falls off. The AI writing is... fine, but how much real value is there in something finishing your sentences in a business-friendly wa

AI has little to no direct value to me

[cygnusvis]

The only AI value is when itâ(TM)s used with tools that do specific things or as a search engine