Qualcomm CEO: AI Agents Will Revolutionize Smartphone App Interaction

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon believes AI agents could fundamentally change how smartphone users interact with apps and digital services in the coming years. According to Amon, future AI assistants will be capable of handling tasks across multiple apps on users' behalf, reducing the need to switch between apps. Speaking on "The Tech Download" podcast, Amon outlined a future in which AI-powered assistants coordinate actions across several services at once. Instead of opening separate apps to search for a restaurant, make a reservation, complete a payment and receive a confirmation, users could simply instruct an AI agent to complete the task. Amon said this experience could extend beyond smartphones to devices such as smart glasses equipped with cameras and displays, allowing users to access AI assistance throughout the day. He described a scenario in which a person remembers that they need a restaurant reservation while walking down the street. Rather than reaching for a smartphone and switching between multiple apps, an AI assistant would handle the booking process across services and send a confirmation once the task is complete.

AI agents may become the new interface for apps: Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon

According to Amon, apps will continue to exist, but their role is likely to evolve as AI agents become more capable. Apps are “not dead,” he said “but apps are going to change.” As AI assistants gain the ability to interact with various services on users' behalf, people may increasingly rely on agents rather than directly managing individual apps.“Those agents are going to be the new app,” he added. The idea is in line with the broader trend in the industry toward agentic AI systems designed to perform tasks independently and coordinate activities across different platforms. Amon’s comments also hint at how AI could extend beyond smartphones and become a key feature in new classes of devices, such as smart glasses and other wearables. As a major supplier of processors for smartphones and connected devices, Qualcomm has been investing in technology that runs AI models directly on devices rather than relying entirely on cloud-based systems. While smartphones are expected to remain an important part of the consumer technology ecosystem, Amon suggested that AI agents could eventually become the primary way users access digital services, handling tasks across multiple apps with minimal user intervention.