Qualcomm’s CEO on the coming AI phone supercycle

Alex Heath

AI could give people a reason to buy a new phone again. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon tells me why he expects a smartphone supercycle as AI agents start using our apps and acting on our behalf. His company makes the chips behind Android phones, Meta’s smart glasses, and coming devices from AI companies like OpenAI, giving it a stake in several competing visions for the next big AI device.We discuss why he thinks phones aren’t going away, how agents will use our personal context, and why he expects smart glasses to become the biggest category of AI wearables. We also cover differences in consumer AI adoption between China and the US, Qualcomm’s acquisition of Modular to offer developers an alternative to Nvidia’s software, and what 6G could change about the devices we use.

This conversation was recorded live at Qualcomm’s recent Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii.

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Episode highlights

• A reason to upgrade your phone again. Amon thinks AI agents that use your apps, understand your personal context, and act on your behalf will drive the next smartphone supercycle. He compares this moment to the early iPhone, when the applications that would define the platform mostly hadn’t been invented yet. “The smartphone was defined by the third-party applications,” he says, and he expects agents to change the phone experience in a similar way. He says AI companies are already asking Qualcomm to support at least 100-billion-parameter models on phones by 2028, with AI running all the time. He bets these new capabilities will meet pent-up demand from buyers who have been putting off upgrades because of soaring memory prices.

• An “iPod moment” for AI devices. He describes companies experimenting with earbuds with cameras, jewelry, pendants, and badges, with Qualcomm supplying the technology behind a range of designs. He’s most bullish on smart glasses, which put an AI assistant close to your eyes, ears, and mouth. But when I ask whether another form factor could break through alongside phones and glasses, he sees room for something we haven’t settled on yet. “It feels like an iPod moment,” he tells me. In his view, the conditions for a hit are straightforward: people have to trust it, find it useful, and be able to use it without much friction.

• Qualcomm wants its mobile DNA to pay off in data centers. He thinks years of squeezing more computing out of limited battery power give Qualcomm an opening as AI infrastructure runs up against energy constraints. “Our DNA is building chips, assuming there’s a battery on the other side,” he says. The hardware bet is energy-efficient CPUs and AI accelerators; the acquisition of Chris Lattner’s Modular is meant to give developers an open software platform that works across competing chips. Amon says Qualcomm will “celebrate every single Modular deployment on Nvidia,” because loosening software lock-in gives it a chance to compete on the merits of its hardware. He sees 6G enabling constant high-definition video uploads from devices like glasses, turning us into “walking cameras on this world” that provide context for AI. He also describes using the network’s radio signals like radar to map the physical world for applications including robots and drone detection. That future will take time: he expects demonstrations at the 2028 LA Olympics, early deployments around 2029–2030, and broader scale after that.

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Sources is a newsletter and podcast by Alex Heath about the AI race, featuring conversations with leading founders and technologists. Every week, Sources reaches the inboxes of thousands of decision-makers in tech, finance, policy, and media.

Sources features candid conversations with the leaders shaping what’s next in AI and the broader tech industry. Host Alex Heath has covered Silicon Valley as a journalist for more than a decade. He talks with founders, CEOs, and technologists about the news of the moment, the bets they’re making, and what they see coming next.