Cristiano Amon, the CEO of chipmaking giant Qualcomm, has made a surprising prediction: the very processors his company designs for smartphones could lead to people using their phones less. In an exclusive interview, Amon outlined a future where AI agents become the central hub of our digital lives, shifting interaction away from the smartphone screen to a constellation of smart wearables.
The Rise of the Agent and the Fall of the Phone as Centrepiece
Amon, whose company recently launched the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor powering devices like the OnePlus 15, explained that the next shift is towards "agentic AI." This means instructing a digital assistant to complete tasks, like booking an Uber, rather than manually opening apps. "The phone will no longer be the centre. The agent is the centre," Amon stated. He compares this evolution to the shift from desktop to laptop to phone—a gradual adoption, not a sudden replacement.
He envisions a world where we interact primarily through smart glasses, jewellery, or pins, all connected to an AI agent. "You're going to start using the agents more and use your phone for different things," Amon said. This shift is powered by moving AI from the cloud directly onto devices, a concept known as AI on the edge, which Qualcomm's new chips are built to enable.
A Fashionable, Platform-Agnostic Future
For Qualcomm, this wearable-centric future is a strategic opportunity. Even iPhone users, whose devices run on Apple's own chips, will likely use accessories where Qualcomm technology is embedded. Amon foresees a decline in the importance of the smartphone operating system. "You may find a situation where people are buying the fashion devices they like... and whether they have an Android or an iPhone isn’t so important any more," he suggested.
He pointed to the success of devices like the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses as early indicators. The future platform, he argues, will be "horizontal," allowing consumers to choose brands like Gucci or Oakley for their smart wearables, all connected to their chosen AI model. "Do you believe everybody in the world is going to have Tim Cook eyeglasses?" Amon quipped.
A Natural Transition, Powered by Evolving AI
Amon acknowledges that behaviour change can be a hurdle but believes the transition will feel natural. He gives compelling examples: smart glasses recognising a familiar face to prompt a greeting, or paying a bill simply by speaking the instruction aloud. "If it's not natural, it's not going to be successful," he emphasised.
Addressing concerns about AI errors and misunderstandings, Amon is confident the technology is maturing rapidly. He stated that Qualcomm's processors are now capable of running the necessary models, and the AI models themselves are evolving to perform practical tasks reliably. The next step is mass adoption through compelling devices. "The inflection point already happened, and we're going to start to have scale," he said, predicting smart glasses sales will grow from millions to hundreds of millions.
Looking ahead, Amon made a bold prediction: AI agents could eventually make apps and app stores obsolete. "The model has access to the Uber app or to the banking app because everything is connected to the model, so it becomes the app store in itself," he explained. The ultimate goal is that users select their preferred AI model—be it ChatGPT, Gemini, or another—and it seamlessly operates across all their devices, handling mundane tasks and freeing up human attention.
