Carl Pei is once again pushing a big idea about where smartphones are headed, and this time it is a direct challenge to the app-based model people have used for years. Speaking at SXSW in Austin, the Nothing CEO said he believes apps will eventually fade away, replaced by AI agents that understand what users want and handle tasks for them in a much more direct way. In his view, the current smartphone experience still looks too much like the old PDA era: lock screen, home screen, app icons, app store, and a long chain of taps just to get simple things done.