Why your next phone may have a dedicated AI button

Remember when your smartphones got rid of buttons to achieve a sleek, more innovative, and futuristic feel? Well, buttons are making a comeback. Phone makers are adding a dedicated AI button. These aren’t shortcuts, as they are physical keys built into the phone, designed to trigger AI-powered features like context-aware actions, voice prompts, and personalised suggestions. Motorola and OnePlus have joined in this push, each with their own versions, bringing AI one tap closer. Literally, but not everyone is convinced by this news; critics are asking whether most people use AI features enough to justify a whole new button. So, what exactly does an AI button do? Who’s adding them, and why now? And most importantly, do we need one?

Who’s adding AI buttons, and what do they do?

Several phone brands are investing heavily in AI hardware. Instead of offering more intelligent software, they will add a physical button to instantly trigger AI features, with no menus or voice commands, just a single tap. Let us take a look at how different brands are implementing this: 

• Nothing’s essential key: On phones such as the Nothing Phone, you will find a button called the essential key. Once you press it, you will gain access to a custom AI hub, allowing you to perform tasks such as recording, saving screenshots, and setting reminders to check back on something later. It tries to guess what you might need. 
• Motorola’s “AI key”: Motorola’s Razr 60 Ultra includes an AI key that unlocks tools like Look and Lock (hands-free commands), Catch Me Up (to summarise your notifications). A hands-free assistant that adapts to your routines. 
• OnePlus’s “Plus Key”: With the OnePlus 13S, the brand implemented the Plus key, which is customised to control your camera and built to organise your screen content and make it searchable later on. It is an AI-powered memory bank. 

In all three cases, the idea is the same: make AI feel more useful, more immediate, and more physical. But is it something that users are actually asking for?. 

Do people even use AI enough for this button? 

While smartphone brands are integrating dedicated AI buttons into their devices, user engagement with AI features remains relatively low.

• Low perceived value of AI features: A survey by SellCell in December 2024 revealed that 73% of iPhone users and 87% of Android users felt the AI features added little to zero value.

• AI as a purchasing factor: When considering AI as a factor in purchasing decisions, 23% of Samsung users and 47.6% of iPhone users view AI features as necessary when buying a new phone.

Additionally, there is a strong resistance to monetised AI features, as this is a valid criticism of what it can become. This indicates that AI can influence some consumers, but it is not a primary priority for the majority. 

Smartphones are already packed with many features, sensors, and shortcuts. So when companies begin adding physical AI buttons. For consumers, reality is seen as justification to pay for extra hardware. For now, the AI button is a curious experiment, part innovation, part branding, and part bet on a future that might not welcome this.