AI Agents Will Replace Apps

The comments underscore how quickly chipmakers and device manufacturers are repositioning around a future where AI systems, rather than traditional applications, become the primary interface between users and digital services. Industry forecasts suggest global smartphone shipments remain in the range of about 1.26 billion units annually, but companies are increasingly betting that growth in the next device cycle will come from wearables and new form factors rather than phones. At the same time, the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure and edge computing is driving a redesign of semiconductor roadmaps, as firms prepare for devices that require higher performance and far greater energy efficiency in increasingly compact hardware.

Qualcomm is developing more than 40 designs for new artificial intelligence-powered devices as the chipmaker prepares for a shift toward “AI agents” that could transform how consumers interact with software, Chief Executive Cristiano Amon said.

Amon said the company is exploring a wide range of wearable and compact devices, including jewellery, earbuds with built-in cameras, pins and watches, as AI systems become more deeply embedded in consumer electronics.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of experimentation with different form factors,” Amon said on CNBC’s “The Tech Download” podcast.

“Right now, we have over 40 designs of those devices, and I’m telling you, the types of form factors are very, very broad.”

He said the devices are designed around constant connectivity and contextual awareness, enabling users to interact with AI systems more naturally.

“The principle is something that you wear, something [that] is with you all the time, something that can see the world around you, so you have context and have the ability for you to access an agent and talk to the agent,” Amon said.

AI agents are emerging as a next phase of digital assistants such as Apple’s Siri and Google Gemini, with the technology industry betting they will be capable of performing more complex, multi-step tasks across applications.

Apps are “not dead,” Amon said, “but apps are going to change.”

“Those agents are going to be the new app,” he added.

Amon also said AI-driven devices could shift the central role of smartphones in digital life, although he added that phones would not disappear.

“The phone is around the agent. The new classes of devices … are going to be around the agent as well. And the agent will be the one that will understand human intentions and will do things for you, so there is a shift in what the center of gravity is,” he said.

He said smart glasses could emerge as a major consumer category, potentially rivaling smartphones at scale. Global shipments of smart glasses are currently in the “order of multiple tens of millions” annually, he said, and could rise to “hundreds of millions” within a few years.

For comparison, about 1.26 billion smartphones were shipped globally in 2025, according to Counterpoint Research.

Amon said the emergence of AI-native devices could open the hardware market to new entrants, including software-first AI companies seeking control of consumer endpoints.

“All the devices that we wear become endpoints for agents, and those AI companies understand they have to win those endpoints from agents,” he said.

He also said AI-enabled devices would generate significantly larger volumes of data than current products, which could be used to improve future models and deliver more personalised experiences.

“So those companies want to have access to the data, because it’s important to train future models,” he said.

Amon said Qualcomm is redesigning its technology roadmap to support the shift toward smaller, more power-efficient AI devices.

“Our entire roadmap is in a process of upgrade right now. An entire roadmap, because I believe none of the devices we have today are prepared for the future,” he said.

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