The AI-Powered Smartphones That Never Arrived in 2024

Despite bold claims, 2024’s smartphones failed to deliver on the promise of AI integration, leaving users underwhelmed.

Over the past year, I’ve been glued to every major phone launch in the US, each one shouting from the rooftops about AI being the next big thing. But let’s be real—these so-called AI phones? More like ‘meh’ phones. The dream was a device that could, say, order your pizza while managing your calendar without breaking a sweat. Spoiler alert: we’re not there yet.

Right now, the AI features on phones—think writing help or translating calls—feel like party tricks rather than the life-changing tech we were promised. Sure, big names like Samsung, Google, and Apple are all in on AI, but it’s like they’re throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. Nothing’s really come together in a way that makes you go, ‘Wow.’

Take Samsung’s Galaxy S24. It’s got this AI photo editing thing, which is cool until you realize it’s pretty much all it’s got. Then there’s Google’s Pixel 9 series, packed with AI tools that don’t really talk to each other. And Apple’s iPhone 16? Well, its AI features are fashionably late and, honestly, not much to write home about. Definitely not the ‘AI smartphone’ revolution we were sold.

At this point, AI in smartphones feels less like a game-changer and more like a bunch of tech demos that got lost on their way to something bigger. As the hype train keeps chugging along, the gap between what’s promised and what’s delivered is starting to feel like a bad joke. And trust me, no one’s laughing.