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For many years, the smartphone market has been relatively predictable. Each manufacturer competed with better cameras, brighter screens, or longer-lasting batteries. However, the arrival of Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises to change the game in a much more profound way.
Until now, all brands found their niche in the market. Apple, of course, took the lion's share. The company clearly dominates the premium segment and accounts for the majority of mobile phone sales above €1,000, obtaining profit margins far exceeding those of its competitors.
But AI introduces a completely different challenge. Integrating it into a phone is not simply a matter of installing a smart app. It requires that artificial intelligence work seamlessly with the entire operating system: the camera, voice recognition, photo editing, real-time translation, battery management, and even the automatic organization of user information.
To achieve this, much more powerful processors, more memory, cloud infrastructure, new software developments, and enormous investments in research and marketing are needed. Ultimately, it means playing in a much more demanding technological league, where not all brands will be able to compete on a level playing field.
One of the biggest problems is precisely memory. AI-powered phones need more storage capacity and more RAM to run advanced functions quickly. The sharp increase in the price of these components is making devices more expensive to manufacture, especially in the mid-range and low-end segments. Various industry analyses suggest that 2026 will be one of the most challenging years for the industry, with a significant drop in sales and increasing pressure on smaller manufacturers.
It's true that many consumers don't actually need all these new features. Most use their phones to communicate, browse the internet, play games, take photos, and check social media. However, when it's time to upgrade, it's hard to resist buying a model that incorporates the latest innovations. Marketing does its job very well.
Just look at the advertising campaigns of Apple, Samsung, Google, or the major manufacturers to see that practically all innovation revolves around Artificial Intelligence. Now everything seems smarter, faster, and more personalized thanks to AI.
At the same time, the market is experiencing a slowdown. Forecasts point to a drop of around 13% in global smartphone sales during 2026, particularly affecting brands with less financial capacity and a presence in the budget segment.
This raises an interesting question: will some brands disappear? We may be witnessing a new phase of consolidation, in which only those companies capable of absorbing the enormous cost of developing a genuine AI platform integrated into their devices will survive.
Artificial intelligence will undoubtedly make our phones more useful. It will automate tasks, improve photos, facilitate communication, and save us time. But we will also pay a premium for many features that we will probably use very little, or hardly at all. It's the usual price of any technological revolution.
As is almost always the case, technology is advancing much faster than our needs. And yet, most of us will end up wanting to carry that little smart assistant in our pocket.
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