‘A phone is unique to you, it’s not going anywhere’: Qualcomm CEO’s big bet on Agentic AI as company unveils new mobile chips

At the opening keynote of the Snapdragon Summit in Maui, Hawaii, Qualcomm's CEO Cristiano Amon unveiled his vision for the future of smartphones. According to Amon, smartphones are transitioning from app-centric devices to AI agent-centric platforms, capable of understanding users' intent and context and handling tasks independently.

This shift marks a new era where AI agents become the center of the smartphone experience, rather than the device itself. Amon believes this change will fundamentally alter how we interact with smartphones, moving away from the current model that primarily relies on apps and generative AI features.

Amon envisions an AI-powered smartphone that is fundamentally different from today's devices. He explained that in the future, AI can understand users' intent, reason, plan, and remember, allowing agents to act on the user's behalf. While the phone itself will not disappear, its role will evolve as it coexists with new agent experiences. Amon emphasized that trust and convenience are crucial for a great agentic experience, as the agent must be secure, private, and put the user in control.

To support this AI-driven vision, Qualcomm is unveiling new Android mobile chips designed for on-device AI. These chips, branded under the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, will be built using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s 2-nanometer manufacturing process. They will power flagship smartphones from companies like Motorola, Xiaomi, and Oppo.

The new chips feature an Oryon CPU with two 5GHz Prime cores and six 4GHz Performance cores, along with a graphics processing unit (GPU) and a neural processing unit (NPU) to handle AI workloads, including background agents.

Qualcomm's new chips also include security features to control agents' access to sensitive data. This move comes as the overall smartphone market is expected to decline by 16.7%, according to IDC, due to factors such as global memory shortages, rising prices, inflation, and geopolitical tensions. Phone brands are responding to the subdued demand by focusing on premium, flagship smartphones that offer better profit margins.

Qualcomm positions its AI-powered smartphones as an "AI hub" capable of processing AI models and generating tokens without relying on the cloud. This approach aims to create a personal and context-aware experience that is proactive, not intrusive, and responsive in real-time, seamlessly transitioning across different devices.