Agentic artificial intelligence is expected to become increasingly common on smartphones, with Ericsson ConsumerLab research pointing to significant growth in consumer adoption over the next four years.
According to the report, An Agentic Life: How Consumer AI Usage Is Shaping Future Network Needs, about 4% of current smartphone users surveyed are already using agentic AI capabilities. These systems can perform tasks on behalf of users rather than simply providing information or responding to prompts.
The research found that 38% of smartphone users surveyed across 27 markets expect to use agentic AI applications or features on their devices by 2030. The anticipated growth could change how consumers interact with smartphones and digital services, particularly as AI becomes capable of handling more routine activities.
Among the tasks users expect to delegate to agentic AI are scheduling and coordination, product comparisons, management of recurring purchases and health monitoring. Respondents estimate that using these capabilities could save them up to an hour of browsing time each day.
The research also identifies a growing group of AI super users. Around 10% of smartphone owners globally are currently considered AI super users because of their heavy engagement with multimodal AI. Ericsson expects this proportion to rise to approximately 30% by 2030.
Current AI super users spend about 2.5 times longer using AI applications and services than the average smartphone user. By 2030, that difference is expected to increase to around four times longer.
The research is based on responses from more than 43,000 smartphone users aged 15 to 69 across 27 markets. Ericsson ConsumerLab says the sample represents approximately 1.7 billion smartphone users worldwide.
The report also examines the potential implications for communications service providers (CSPs). As AI agents perform more activities in the background, networks could face increased demand for secure and efficient processing of automated actions.
Respondents also identified areas where they expect CSPs to play a role, including AI agent identity, mobile network security and network capabilities. Ericsson ConsumerLab Head Jasmeet Singh Sethi said early adopter behaviour and expectations among AI super users can provide indications of wider adoption trends.
The expected expansion of multimodal and agentic AI could therefore have implications beyond smartphone applications. Increased background activity, connectivity requirements and security considerations may influence how service providers plan and develop their networks toward 2030.
