The AI revolution has transitioned from standalone chatbots to fully-functional models that sit right in the palm of your hand. Smartphone manufacturers have found an "innovative" way to express the importance of these AI features by adding dedicated buttons that bring up the experiences. And for the most part, these AI features could be immensely helpful in your day-to-day usage. Here are phones with dedicated AI features that you'll actually use.
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iPhone 17 – Apple Intelligence
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Realistically, the entire "dedicated AI button" innovation started with Apple introducing the Action Button on the iPhone 15 Pro and sticking to it in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 17. While not exclusive to AI, the Action Button is heavily used to trigger Apple Intelligence shortcuts. Like most manufacturers, Apple lets you remap the button to trigger other features.
Users are mapping it to instantly open ChatGPT, record voice memos for summarisation or trigger Visual Intelligence without unlocking the phone. Like most manufacturers, this button can be found on the top left side of the chassis. All in all, it's a do-it-all button that users can turn into an AI key, mostly because Apple couldn't market it as one due to limited AI features on iOS.
Apple's implementation is pretty slick because the tactile feedback of the button, combined with the Dynamic Island animations that confirm your AI request, creates a seamless experience. It's easy to turn the feature from a forgetful one into a muscle memory action for users.
What else can it do? You can use the button to launch Image Playground, Apple's on-device generator that turns rough sketches into polished graphics. Besides, the button can also be linked to the new Personal Context Siri, letting you press and ask questions about your schedule.
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OnePlus 15 – Mind Space, Plus Key
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The OnePlus 15 as well as the pioneering OnePlus 13s and Nord 5 come with a new hardware button, known as the Plus Key. The key replaces OnePlus' famous Alert Slider and acts as an activation switch for Mind Space. A single press captures whatever is on your screen and throws it into a dedicated memory section. And, like the iPhone's Action Button, the Plus Key is customisable.
Mind Space is a contextual AI hub that stores screen grabs and analyses the things on the screen. It uses AI to, say, save the date and pricing in a concert poster. If you save a long article, it generates a three-line summary. This removes the hassle of copy-pasting content between apps. You can also just press to save and deal with the organised data later in the app.
Integration with Gemini makes it more powerful. Besides, the animations are slick and, like the iPhone, use OnePlus' Fluid Cloud feature to tell users that the content is being processed and saved. The phone searches through the visual and text data stored in Mind Space to give you instant answers for queries in Gemini's case. It's a photographic memory powered by AI.
The experience extends to the AI toolkit in the sidebar. Even without the key, users can invoke features like AI speak to have the phone read articles in natural voice, use AI reflect
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Nothing Phone (3) – Essential Space, Essential Key
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The Nothing Phone offers arguably the most productivity-focused AI implementation with Essential Space. It's invoked by an Essential Key, which is Nothing's own AI button positioned on the right side of the Phone (3a) and Phone (3). But unlike on other phones, it's not customisable. As for what it does:
A single press takes a screenshot, while a long press takes the screenshot and begins recording audio. Besides, flipping the phone and pressing the Essential Key for three seconds activates the Essential Recorder. This allows for capturing meetings without breaking eye contact or fumbling with on-screen menus. Besides, all the processing happens locally.
Nothing calls Essential Space a second brain. All the data captured by the key flows into Essential Space, an app that replaces traditional notes and voice recorder apps. Here, the on-device AI transcribes voice notes, recordings, tagging them with the location and time they were recorded. It automatically sorts your screenshots into categories, so you don't have to doom-scroll through your gallery to find that one receipt.
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Oppo Find X9 – Memory Mode, Snap Key
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Oppo introduced Memory Mode via the Snap Key in the Find X9, which is located on the top left side of the frame. While its primary marketing focus is photography, it can be remapped to a double-click gesture to launch its AI assistant or enter Memory Mode. The feature initially faced severe criticism for being a one-to-one copy of Apple's Action Button.
However, Oppo claims it's the faster one. The Snap Key is wired to wake the NPU instantly, meaning you can press the button and speak a command like "Translate this menu" while the phone is still locked, and the camera will open directly into AI translation mode. Despite the derivative feel, the utility of the button is undeniable.
For starters, with Oppo extensively using AI in most parts of its smartphone experience, users can map the Snap Key to Quick Search. Instead of searching for something, users can click the button and ask Gemini. Besides, there are tons of other features and custom actions that can be added.
From Apple to OnePlus, the fundamental shift to the App Era to the Hardware AI Era has taken off for now. This makes AI an omnipresent utility that can be easily accessed, solving one of the key drawbacks of AI usage, which is friction. It proves that AI features are best when they're easily accessible and not three to four clicks away.
Features like Essential Space and Mind Space prove that AI could be a great organiser. By allowing users to click and capture, these buttons bear the ability to bridge the gap between AI and human interaction. However, it will be interesting to see if the buttons stick around for longer as we leapfrog into 2026. As for now, it seems poised to become a standard design element.
