| Hi everyone, it's Ed in San Francisco. Will the hype about AI lure you to upgrade your phone? But first... Three things you need to know today: • Nvidia announced it will produce new models of its AI accelerators in 2025 and 2026
• Autodesk reassigned its CFO after an internal investigation that delayed financial filings
• Google has blocked new reviews for businesses in Israel and the Palestinian territories since Oct. 7 Lets be honest: Upgrading your smartphone is more about battery life, connection speeds and often deals from carriers or network providers. Generative artificial intelligence is cool and everything, but it's not top of mind for most consumers in a smartphone upgrade cycle. At least, it's not the first thing I'm thinking about as I consider a new phone or computer. Let's start with the case of Apple Inc.'s iPhone. That's most interesting to me because I have an iPhone 15 Pro, which I upgraded to last year from an iPhone 12. I attended Apple's iPhone 15 launch event at the company's Cupertino, California, headquarters. I was convinced that a move to a USB-C port, a more universal charging standard, was a good idea and I was sick of having one set of cables for my older iPhones (lightning) and USB-C for everything else. Apple's new in-house A17 processor was also a selling point because it supports ray tracing: technology that enables smoother graphics and improved color accuracy. I fancy myself as a bit of a gamer and I like to watch videos on my phone on-the-go, so that all sounded good. When it came time to pull the trigger, I walked into a T-Mobile store and the promotion on offer was up to $1,000 off the handset price by trading an old model. I got about an $800 credit. And given my wife was with me, her head was turned and we added her to the account as an additional line and she got the same promotion. That was largely because the monthly cost of owning the phone and use of the line was less than the deal she was already on. Bargain. I also have a Samsung Galaxy A52, also 5G enabled, through work. This is largely so that I can experience the Android operating system (I love technology and host our daily tech show, after all). But I also want to have a phone on a different network, to ensure I always have a signal! I use it less for social media or personal messaging and more for work. The smartphone industry will recover in 2024 and global shipments will grow 4% year-over-year, according to an IDC report published last week. That growth, the researcher says, will be fueled by phones based on the Android operating system. And those of you reading this in "emerging markets" are expected to be the main buyers. Transitions to 5G networks are still a big factor as more and more nations make the jump and available handsets can oblige. But none of that's relevant to me. I already have a 5G-enabled phone and it basically does everything I could wish for. The easiest way to sum it up is that you only remember what 4G or, heaven forbid, 3G speeds were like if there's some weird connectivity issue and you can't instantly stream a feature-length film on the bus. So will it be AI that pulls me in for my next phone? My case study is interesting because I'm just one of many that has made or could make a multi-generations jump on iPhone and the iOS platform. My colleagues at Bloomberg Intelligence — our in-house research analysts — calculate that more than 40% of the iPhones out there are iPhone 12s or older and so are primed for an upgrade. Then there's my dad who, somehow, has only just made the switch from iPhone 8 to iPhone 12 at the end of last year. He sometimes, maybe deliberately or affectionately, still refers to it out-loud as his "Blackberry." (He's part of that first generation that was introduced to smartphones with the Blackberry and a keypad/mouse track). What's important to him is that he can make calls and send emails, but he upgraded because it was "overloaded" and the battery was failing. Bigger picture for Apple: IDC models say that Tim Cook's company will see growth on iPhone and iOS of just 0.7% this year, with Android outpacing at 4.8% growth. That's in part because Apple had a stronger 2023 (with the release of the iPhone 15 model line) and now faces growing competition in China from domestic handset makers and its luxury-item allure is wearing off. (Anyone reading this — is iPhone prestige still a motivating factor for you to upgrade? DM me.). The psychology of consumers in China, the world's biggest smartphone market, has been in keen focus, too. The most recent third-party data dump showed positive iPhone figures for China in the month of March, but analysts say that's likely because people are already moving to pricier phones they expect to keep longer. That would suggest they're not waiting for the next artificial-intelligence driven thing from Apple. That's concerning when you consider that for Apple, a way back could be a strong story about how we use AI, particularly generative AI, on upcoming generations of the iPhone. "If Apple makes a strong move around its AI strategy for iPhones, demonstrating clear use cases, it could accelerate the growth for Apple and revamp demand for iPhones, especially in China," Nabila Popal, research director with IDC's Worldwide Tracker Team, said in the May 30 research report. I woke up to my invite to WWDC — Apple's major developers conference starting June 10 — in my inbox last week. There's been criticism as to why Apple hasn't shown its hand earlier on its plan for consumer-facing generative AI tools (they boast a rich history in using AI and machine learning internally and in iOS), but as my colleague Mark Gurman has reported several times: WWDC will be it. We will finally find out. Just as I was convinced by being at Apple Park in September and getting to put my hands on the iPhone 15 line, maybe I'll be convinced by what Apple shows me next week? And then again, is Nabila right? And does it even matter to you? In reality, what's prompting all of you clinging on to your cracked screens and fluff-filled charging ports to make the leap? I ran polls on both LinkedIn and X (OK, not that scientific) to find out what you, the people, really consider when upgrading your phone. In both cases, battery life is clearly still the biggest factor to many. There are some who see the advent of phones specifically designed with generative AI in mind as being a bigger factor. Gartner forecasts 240 million GenAI smartphones will be shipped by the end of 2024. And overall, GenAI handsets will represent 22% of basic and premium smartphones in 2024, rising to 32% in 2025. Like IDC, Gartner analysts see total smartphone shipments growing around 4.2% in 2024. Conclusion? Gen AI phones will play a part for some people, somewhere. The conclusion, for me, is that choosing a new phone or laptop is going to increasingly rely on getting your hands on the technology before buying. Using generative AI tools and assistants seem like making the jump from a keypad to a touch screen or learning to use a voice assistant for the first time: both of which I do now as part of my adventure through daily life.—Edward Ludlow Advanced Micro Devices said it will speed up how fast it introduces new models of its AI chips. America's dying malls may be saved by Japanese videogame arcades. TikTok is pausing its e-commerce effort in Europe to focus on the US. The Tribeca Festival and OpenAI plan to showcase five short films made by artificial intelligence. Saudi Arabia's Prosperity7 Ventures joined the latest financing round for Chinese up-and-coming startup Zhipu AI. | 
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