Melbourne, Dec 10 (IANS): Smartphones will become obsolete within five years and would be replaced with artificial intelligence, according to a consumer survey by the Ericsson owned ConsumerLab.

Half of the study's respondents said they thought mobile technology would be redundant by 2021 as the growth of artificial intelligence starts enabling interaction with objects without the need for a phone or tablet, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

"A smartphone in the hand, it's really not that practical. For example, not when one is driving a car or cooking. And there are many situations where display screens are not so good. Therefore, one in two think that smartphones will belong to the past within five years," Ericsson ConsumerLab's Rebecka Cedering Angstrom was quoted as saying.

The research lab surveyed 100,000 people across Sweden and 39 other countries.

With around 1.9 billion smartphone users globally, this means ConsumerLab covered just 0.0052 per cent of active users for its study.