The perfect smartphone? If it existed it would be so. Here's the Frankenstein mobile phone

Thanks to advances in generative artificial intelligence, the latest smartphones can do almost anything. They help write an e-mail or text, synthesise documents, translate into multiple languages and transcribe audio. Some can edit photos, removing disturbing elements and creating filler contexts with a certain verisimilitude. AI on mobile devices brings with it two major consequences. The first is the risk of creating an even deeper furrow between the top-range models, with built-in generative capabilities, and the middle-range, which will be relegated to objects only capable of benefiting from the GenAI coming from third-party apps, from ChatGpt to Gemini and Copilot. Another consequence, looking precisely at the most expensive smartphones, is the flattening of functionalities: for good marketing reasons, we can change the name of the editing option of a photo or the real-time translation of a phone call many times, but the end result does not change. That is why more and more interest, when choosing, will fall on what already distinguishes one brand from another: design, camera, app ecosystem, battery, performance. Aspects that today we do not find in a single phone but rather in four market references.

Waiting to prove what Apple Intelligence can actually do, Gemini is the AI to beat. The power of artificial intelligence offers users features such as Circle and Search but also Magic Eraser and, of course, integration with Gemini for answers to their questions. Beyond that, the Pixel 8 Pro is the device that best integrates the possibilities of AI as a perfectly embedded part of Android. The reason is simple: Google is behind the operating system and it is therefore logical that the company has holistically dropped Gemini into the smartphone. The next step? We will have it in September with the arrival of the new Pixel 9 and 9 Pro and, probably, the announcement of a new processor dedicated to GenAI operations, to counter the competition blow by blow.

Samsung's Galaxy S24 line is the first to focus on Galaxy AI artificial intelligence. For its part, the S24 Ultra, the most premium of the three, is the one that, more than any other from the Korean manufacturer, offers top-level performance in every area, from the camera to multitasking and battery life. Never a hesitation or a crash, almost no overheating and fewer colour issues in image rendering. Of course GenAI does its bit with generative editing, but it remains an option that not everyone will use and certainly not on every shoot.

Under the bonnet, the S24 Ultra includes an upgraded Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset for graphics and AI capabilities, 12 GB of RAM (an increase from last year's 8 GB) and 2,600 nits of brightness - a big step up from 1,750 in 2023. As for the cameras, there is a 50 MP telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom. The results are sharper, less noisy images and an overall system capable of absorbing more light than ever before.

If the real breakthrough comes in September, with the iPhone 16 and Apple Intelligence, the 15 Pro Max will remain a benchmark for a few more years. With Apple's openness to the demands of the Digital Markets Act, on the sideloading of apps and the installation of games and software from shops other than the App Store, we have a perfect mix between Apple's qualitatively superior ecosystem and the various possibilities offered by developers who have not entered or do not want to submit to the American giant's remunerative logic. These will still have to pay Apple a fee on installations, but only after the first million downloads and with significant revenues in excess of 10 million in total. In short, if in recent times we have also seen the arrival of past videogame emulators on iPhones, the situation will only get more interesting in the future.