MoonFox Analysis | Distribution and Interaction Transformation: AI Smartphones Enter a New Era

About us: Aurora Mobile (NASDAQ: JG) established in 2011, is a leading customer engagement and marketing technology service provider in China. Its business includes notification services, marketing growth, development tools, and data products. As its sub-brand, MoonFox Data is a leading expert in data insights and analysis services across all scenarios, aiming to help companies gain market insights and empower precise decision-making.

SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --

Introduction

Since the second half of 2024, the focus in the generative AI industry has noticeably shifted from technology and models to applications and services. A range of usable AI applications in niche fields has entered the market. Beyond application-level directions like search and education, service-level directions such as AI robots and AI smartphones have also emerged as promising development areas. In this context, the pace of development for AI smartphones has significantly accelerated recently, with AI features becoming key selling points for mainstream smartphones. Based on our observations of the AI phone industry layout, AI smartphones are expected to offer users different effects and values compared to various AI applications. Then, how will AI integrate with smartphones? And what are current user evaluations? This article focuses on the AI phone sector, revealing the latest changes and potential value of the industry from key perspectives such as industry competition, typical enterprises, empowerment value, and market evaluation.

I.    Industry Competition: "AI+" Becomes a New Appeal for Smartphones, with Accelerated Industry Upgrades

The smartphone industry may be entering a new replacement cycle, accelerating its recovery. Although the smartphone industry is currently in a mature development and replacement stage, policies promoting device upgrades and high-quality product designs (such as foldable screens) from domestic manufacturers continue to drive user replacements. According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), in 2023, Chinese smartphone shipments totaled 289 million units, increased by 6.5% YoY. Entering 2024, the smartphone industry has continued to perform well, with shipments of 147 million units in the first half of 2024, marking a 13.2% YoY increase (according to the data from CAICT), indicating an accelerated recovery trend.

"AI+" has become a core selling point for mainstream smartphones, resonating with the industry's recovery drivers. Currently, the generative AI industry is accelerating its development towards mobile devices such as smartphones. Due to smartphones' close connection with users and their strong entry-point characteristics, they have attracted significant attention in the AI field. With reduced costs and improved capabilities of cloud-based large models, as well as ongoing development of edge models and small models, the effective deployment of AI smartphones has become feasible. Data shows that leading domestic smartphone brands and companies like SAMSUNG and China Telecom have all entered the AI phone market. System-level AI assistants have become the main application scenarios, with ongoing penetration at the user end. According to MoonFox Data, VIVO's AI assistant "Blue V" has close to 200,000 monthly active users, while HONOR's AI assistant "YOYO" has nearly 900,000 monthly active users. AI capabilities are becoming an appealing selling point that users find compelling, and they are expected to drive a new emotional experience for the smartphone market.

II. Value Generated by the Industry: With the Empowerment of AI Smartphones, Information Distribution and Interactive Actions May Undergo a Transformation

The transformation of smartphones under the empowerment of generative AI extends far beyond just enhancing interaction experience. Currently, the new value that generative AI brings to smartphones is already beginning to emerge. Firstly, in terms of interaction experience, the previous generation of smartphone interaction primarily relied on touch-based clicks, requiring users to perform each step manually. However, with the integration of technologies such as generative AI Agent, automated interaction becomes possible. Interaction actions and paths can be restructured, potentially allowing a single device to offer a multifaceted experience interaction model. On the other hand, we believe that AI smartphones offer more than just an interaction revolution - they significantly enhance overall user efficiency. We can analyze the efficiency boundaries of different generations of smartphones from two dimensions: information distribution and operational efficiency.

• Feature Phone Era: Information distribution primarily involved manual filtering, leading to a uniform experience for users, with interactions mainly through self-operation & retrieval, which was a huge amount of work. Its typical applications included portal websites
• Smartphone Era: Information distribution shifted to discrimination-based and recommendation algorithms, achieving a personalized experience but still requiring user judgment for long-tail items, such as in food delivery and short video applications.
• AI Phone Era: Information distribution can directly reach users through generative algorithms, reducing user input to voice commands and AI operations, such as intelligent ticket booking and intelligent meeting scheduling.

We believe that in the era of generative AI algorithms, the efficiency of AI smartphones is expected to significantly improve. AI applications will become more widespread and versatile, with information distribution more closely aligned with personalized user needs and specific scenarios. Furthermore, user actions are likely to be further liberated, enabling AI to autonomously handle more complex, multi-step tasks.

III.        User Perception: AI Smartphones Infuse the Market with Positive Emotions, Users Show Strong Excitement and Willingness to Try

AI smartphones have introduced novelty to the market with flagship models, generating positive emotions among users. We believe that whether a product or technology ultimately translates into changes in user purchasing behavior, whether in the realm of efficiency tools or lifestyle & entertainment products, it will ultimately be reflected in the level of feedback on user experience and emotions. Thus, the ability to evoke sustained curiosity, excitement, and exploratory emotions is a crucial directive indicator.

Our analysis of social media data regarding user reviews of AI phone shows that current market sentiment on AI phone topics is predominantly positive, with nearly 90% of the feedback being favorable. A significant portion of users have expressed their appreciation for AI phone and the interesting experiences discovered during use. This positive user sentiment is expected to further spread in the future, leading to effective secondary recommendation and promotion.

The development of AI smartphones is in its early stages, with future prospects for phone replacement and content ecosystems likely to flourish. Smartphone manufacturers have established a foundation for AI phone applications, with increasing user penetration rates. This infusion of novelty into user experiences is driving market users towards upgrading devices. From the perspectives of information distribution and user actions, AI smartphones are expected to significantly enhance overall efficiency in the next generation, with broader and more practical AI applications. The development of AI smartphones is worth long-term attention.

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Name: Felix
Title: Director of Sales, Industry Insight Division
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Name: Janette Zhou
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Email: zhouxt@jiguang.cn 
Address: 608/F, Tower B, Wintrust Center, No. 1 Xidawang Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China