Gartner predicts most smartphones will use AI by 2020

Vendors will bet big on AI, according to Gartner, predicting that the trend will become a critical factor in the smartphone market

The next four years will see a 70 per cent increase in the number of smartphones with 'on-device' artificial intelligence (AI), from 10 per cent in 2017 to 80 per cent by 2020, according to Gartner.

The market watcher claims that the massive hike will be driven by vendors using AI to customise their offerings to increasingly personal consumer demands.

Research director at Gartner, CK Lu, said: "Now that smartphones are increasingly becoming commonplace, vendors are looking for new ways to differentiate their product.

"Future AI capabilities enable smartphones to learn, plan and solve problems for users - it's not just about smarting the smartphone, it's also about empowering users by reducing their cognitive load."

At present, only high-end models have AI features on-device, typically focused on data protection and power management.

Research director at Gartner Robert Cozza said: "In the next two years, most use cases will still use a simple AI functionality and technology.

"In the future, smartphones will combine two or more AI functionalities and technologies to provide more advanced user experiences."

The top 10 potential AI functionalities for the smartphone market that Gartner has identified are:

1. "Digital Me" sitting on the device

Smartphones will use sensors, cameras and data to predict the user's next move.

"In the connected home, it could order a vacuum bot to clean when the house is empty, or turn a rice cooker on 20 minutes before you arrive," said principle research analyst at Gartner Angie Wang.

2. User authentication

If you struggle to remember your passwords, AI behaviour recognition may be your saving grace. Gartner predict that vendors will move away from password-based, simple authentication as being "too complex" and "resulting in weak security".

Instead, AI security will learn a user's behaviour, such as patterns when they walk, swipe, apply pressure to the phone, scroll and type.

3. Emotion recognition

Emotion-sensing systems will leverage the rise in virtual personal assistants to add emotional intelligence.

Car manufacturers will be able to use a smartphone's front camera to understand a driver's physical condition or gauge fatigue levels to increase safety.

4. Natural-language understanding

Deep learning on smartphones will improve the accuracy of speech recognition and intent. Gartner suggest that when a user says "the weather is cold" our future phones will be able to gauge whether their intention is to "order a jacket online" or "turn up the heat."

5. Augmented reality (AR) and AI vision

Apple and Google are already investing heavily in this. With the release of iOS 11, Apple included an ARKit feature that provides new developer tools to make adding AR to apps easier. Similarly, Google announced its ARCore AR developer tool for Android and plans to enable AR on about 100 million Android devices by the end of next year.

Google expects almost every new Android phone will be AR-ready out of the box next year.

6. Device management

Improving on current smartphone device management, machine learning will be able to keep frequently used apps running in the background for quick relaunch, or to shut down unused apps to save memory and battery.

7. Personal profiling

Smartphones are already collecting reams of data on users. In the coming years this will be increasingly used to customise services to individuals. Insurance companies, for example, will be able to adjust car insurance rates based on driving behaviour.

8. Content censorship and detection

Restricted content can be automatically detected. Objectionable images, videos or text can be flagged and various notification alarms can be enabled. Computer recognition software can detect any content that violates any laws or policies. For example, taking photos in high-security facilities or storing highly classified data on company-paid smartphones will notify IT.

9. Personal photographing

Smartphones will continue to feed the selfie craze, offering automatic "beautifying" based on a user's individual preferences.

10. Audio analytic

AI audio capability on devices will be able to instruct users or trigger events based on data analysis. One suggestion for the sleep deprived is that if a smartphone hears a user snoring, it could trigger the user's wristband to encourage a change in sleeping positions.