The only difference between the next generation of smartphones will be their AI assistants

By acquiring the Viv virtual assistant from the makers of Apple's Siri, Samsung has joined the AI smartphone wars. Now, Google, Apple, and Samsung all have their own AI-driven personal assistant to put at the center of our mobile devices. Apple has been developing Siri as the core of its mobile and desktop operating systems since buying the technology in 2010, and Google's first true smartphone will exclusively have Google Assistant. The message from these companies is clear: just as apps defined smartphones in the 2000s, the next frontier of mobile computing is a virtual entity that helps its owner manage the barrage of information coming their devices. Phones by Apple, Google, and Samsung are similar in design, computing capability, and each have access to roughly the same pool of apps--but each will pursue a slightly different path through their artificially-intelligent assistants.