Motorola on Thursday debuted new versions of its Razr flip phone with artificial intelligence-powered features from its own AI technology as well as that of several companies, including Perplexity, Meta and Microsoft and Google.
The announcement comes as Google takes the courtroom after a federal judge found that the search giant holds a monopoly in the search market. This has stoked concerns that it could similarly end up controlling the AI industry. The prominent placement of Google’s search engine on Android phones helped it achieve that monopoly status, court filings say.
But the new Razr, Razr Plus and Razr Ultra phones, which launch on May 15, are said to be the first phones with Perplexity’s AI app preinstalled – potentially pointing to a future in which Google shares more of the spotlight with its rivals. Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine and research tool that is available on the web and through an app.
“It’s a big day for the future of smartphones,” Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, said during a Motorola press event Wednesday.
Like Apple (AAPL) and Samsung, Motorola is pushing AI as the major selling point of its new phones. But unlike those two companies, Motorola’s phones feature a cocktail of AI models and services from several different providers.
It’s not unusual for phone makers to partner with other service providers. For example, Apple works with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT’s capabilities into Siri, and Samsung partners with Google to power some of the AI features on its Galaxy phones. But incorporating technology from four companies in this way is rare.
“We are seeing around 30% of people at least are using four different brands in AI (on) their phones,” Maria Jose Martin, director of North American product marketing for Motorola, told CNN.
Motorola’s new flip phones include AI tools that can do things like analyze what’s on a phone’s screen to provide suggestions and summarize notifications. For example, if a person is browsing Pinterest for birthday party ideas, the phone’s Next Move feature, which incorporates Perplexity’s technology, might use recommend generating an image that can be used on a party invitation.