New survey suggests the vast majority of iPhone and Samsung Galaxy users find AI useless – and I’m not surprised

• New data suggests most iPhone and Galaxy users find AI adds little to no value to their experience
• More than 2,000 smartphone users were surveyed by second-hand phone marketplace SellCell
• Data suggests users just aren’t interested in AI features

It’s likely that if you own a smartphone, it’s been updated to include some form of artificial intelligence within the last 12 months – that’s if it didn’t ship with some kind of AI out of the box.

However, with all the buzz around Apple Intelligence, Galaxy AI, and Google Gemini coming to the best phones, it's important to take a moment to ask whether any of us are actually getting any use out of AI – luckily, a new survey has poised that exact question.

A survey of more than 2,000 smartphone users by second-hand smartphone marketplace SellCell found that 73% of iPhone users and a whopping 87% of Samsung Galaxy users felt that AI adds little to no value to their smartphone experience.

SellCell only surveyed users with an AI-enabled phone – thats an iPhone 15 Pro or newer or a Galaxy S22 or newer. The survey doesn’t give an exact sample size, but more than 1,000 iPhone users and more than 1,000 Galaxy users were involved.

Further findings show that most users of either platform would not pay for an AI subscription: 86.5% of iPhone users and 94.5% of Galaxy users would refuse to pay for continued access to AI features.

That’s especially pertinent for Galaxy users, as all Galaxy S25 phones come with six months of Gemini Advanced for free – it doesn’t seem like many will be choosing to renew that subscription. Apple has yet to announce any plans to monetize Apple Intelligence.

The survey also found that AI plays a small role in compelling users to switch platform: 16.8% of iPhone users surveyed would switch to Galaxy for better AI features, while just 9.7% of Galaxy users would make the inverse switch.

However, almost half of iPhone users consider AI an important factor in buying a new phone, with 47.6% saying they consider AI when it comes time to make a purchase as compared to 23.7% of Samsung users.

iPhone users are also generally prouder of Apple Intelligence than their Samsung-wielding peers, with 15.4% saying Apple Intelligence is better than Galaxy AI. Conversely, only 7.8% of Galaxy users stepped up to say Galaxy AI is better than Apple Intelligence.

My analysis – do people just not care?

From the data listed so far, it seems that people just aren’t using AI. In the case of both iPhone and Galaxy users about two-fifths of those surveyed have tried AI features – 41.6% for iPhone and 46.9% for Galaxy.

So, that’s a majority of users not even bothering with AI in the first place and a general disinterest in AI features from the user base overall, despite both Apple and Samsung making such a big deal out of AI.

But why is that? The survey suggests that the majority of iPhone users simply haven’t updated to iOS 18.1 to access Apple Intelligence, while Galaxy users are most likely to just not be interested in available features. Just under a fifth of iPhone users and just less than two fifths of Galaxy users also felt that AI was too inaccurate to use.

I have some theories about what could be driving this apathy. The first centers on ethical concerns about AI. It’s no secret that AI is an environmental catastrophe in motion, consuming massive amounts of water and emitting huge levels of CO2, so greener folks may opt to give it a miss.

There’s also the issue of AI and human creativity – TechRadar’s Editorial Associate Rowan Davies recently wrote of a nascent “cultural genocide” as a result of generative AI, which I think is a compelling reason to avoid it.

It could also be that everyday consumers have tuned out due to the prolonged, messy software rollouts of Apple Intelligence and One UI 7 – even as a full-time tech journalist, I’ve found both hard to follow at times.

Ultimately, though, I think AI just isn't interesting to the everyday person. Even as someone who's making a career of being excited about phones, I’ve yet to see an AI feature announced that doesn't look like a chore to use or an overbearing generative tool. I don’t use any AI features day-to-day, and as such I don’t expect much more excitement from the general public.

In any case, I’ll be looking to Apple and Samsung to spark that interest with high-quality, useful, ethical AI additions in the future. If you’re already ready to jump in, be sure to check out our list of the best AI phones, and let us know what you make of mobile AI in the comments below.

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