Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon predicts that the future of mobile is AI agent-driven

Today, February 20, Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon addressed the audience at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, declaring that the world is rapidly moving beyond chatbots, and is scaling towards AI agents. Amon predicted that the mobile operating system will soon be replaced by AI agents on devices.

Amon said, “I think the internet went straight to the mobile internet, and that's gonna be true again, when you think about AI. For example, in the mobile ecosystem, AI is going to fundamentally change how we think about the mobile device.”

He further added that, “the smartphone today is at the centre of everything that we do. But now, that's gonna get replaced by an agent.”

The keynote takes a deep dive into how users will interact with proactive agents that understand human intention, then navigate through application stores. He also predicts that these agents will eventually bypass traditional apps.

“An agent, then understand human intentions, because, you know, you just need to tell them what you want. ... When that happens, that's what the value is, because then the age of the free. It can go to the internet and do things, you can go to your phone and do things.”

Amon also shed light on how smart glasses with AI agents could bring seamless, "distributed intelligence" where devices like these could help bridge to the physical world.

6G as sensing network for future

Amon also took a deep dive at how the 6G connection will be more than just a faster internet connection. He described 6G as massive "sensing network" that can detect objects, movement, distance, and positioning to map the physical environment for AI agents.

“6G is going to provide an evolution of connectivity, faster speed, lower latency, higher coverage, but that's not the story,” said Amon. He further added that, “One of the biggest features of 6G is the network, it's a sensing network and scale. ... The network not only will provide the connectivity between your device and the internet, but will sense everything that's around you."

Qualcomm calls for India’s “Incredible Opportunity” to lead

Amon showed optimism in India’s role as a global manufacturing and innovation hub. He highlighted that India has the ideal territory for democratizing AI in sectors across agriculture, healthcare, and education.

Emphasising on India’s role, Amon said, “It's an incredible exciting, you know, exciting future (for India) enabled by AI. And it's really, isn't about meeting the ambition of democratising this technology for everyone and actually being having an important role in increasing the global welfare.”