Authored by Wang Miao, Designed by Gu Qingqing, Produced by Networld

On December 1st, ByteDance's Doubao team unveiled a technical preview of the Doubao Mobile Assistant. According to the official announcement, the Doubao Mobile Assistant is an AI assistant software developed through in-depth collaboration with mobile manufacturers at the operating system level, building upon the existing Doubao App.

Doubao also highlighted that this product necessitates joint development with mobile manufacturers. Currently, Doubao is in negotiations with multiple mobile manufacturers for assistant collaborations and has no intentions of developing its own mobile phone. Further updates will be shared in due course.

The most tangible outcome achieved thus far is the engineering prototype nubia M153, a collaborative effort between Doubao Mobile Assistant and ZTE.

Currently, the nubia M153 engineering prototype is available in limited quantities to developers, primarily to enable them to experience the capabilities of the Doubao Mobile Assistant firsthand.

From the demonstration video, we can clearly observe the significant difference brought about by 'system-level integration':

Whether it's waking up the assistant from any screen interface, having the assistant automatically navigate across multiple apps for cross-platform price comparison and ordering, or directly using voice commands in the gallery to tidy up clutter and remove passersby, the operational logic feels akin to a human manually operating the phone, but with enhanced speed and stability.

01

Why the Doubao Mobile Assistant Merits Attention

Traditional AI assistants on mobile phones predominantly exist as standalone apps, capable of only passively 'answering questions' or 'providing suggestions'.

The Doubao Mobile Assistant stands out: it is directly integrated at the system level, acquiring system call permissions, enabling it to read screen content, process images, text, and voice in a multimodal manner, and automatically execute tasks across multiple applications.

For instance, when a user is browsing a photo, webpage, or chat history, they can directly wake up Doubao through voice commands or the side AI button. Doubao can then comprehend the current content and perform operations such as 'upload this image to a certain chat group' or 'organize this text into a note and save it,' without the need for manual app switching, copying and pasting, saving, or forwarding.

More significantly, the Doubao Mobile Assistant transcends being merely an 'assistant' to becoming an 'executor'.

From office automation (organizing documents, converting formats, sending to colleagues), file management (locating files from chat histories, categorizing, packaging, compressing, sending) to shopping, travel, audio and video playback, automatic accounting reminders... numerous complex, multi-step processes that previously required manual labor can now potentially be completed with a single AI click.

The Doubao Mobile Assistant also features a 'memory function,' which records the user's voice commands or behaviors as text, identifies key content, schedules, and to-do items, and generates reminders or automatic arrangements.

This implies that the assistant may potentially assume the role of a 'personal secretary' rather than just being a 'tool'.

02

Doubao Mobile Assistant Deepens Ecosystem Collaboration

From public statements, it appears that Doubao currently has no intentions of manufacturing its own mobile phones but instead opts to collaborate with multiple mobile manufacturers, integrating the assistant into more manufacturers' systems through licensing and integration.

This means that if the collaboration is successful, not only the nubia M153 but also mobile phones from more mainstream brands may come pre-installed with the Doubao Mobile Assistant in the future.

This approach mirrors an 'open platform + ecosystem partner' model, where Doubao provides AI capabilities and system interfaces, and manufacturers are responsible for hardware and system adaptation. The ultimate objective is to make AI assistants a standard feature of mobile phones from multiple brands, rather than being confined to proprietary or self-developed devices.

From a long-term perspective, we can view the Doubao Mobile Assistant as an endeavor to bring AI 'from the cloud/app to the system level and hardware end'.

For users, the significance is evident: transitioning from an 'additionally installed' app to a 'system-level integrated' assistant, AI can seamlessly participate in daily mobile phone operations, no longer being restricted to a specific app.

For manufacturers and the entire mobile phone ecosystem, this signifies that mobile phones are no longer just hardware + operating system + app market but a new ecosystem of 'device + native AI assistant + deep hardware collaboration'.

In the future, the concept of an 'AI phone' may no longer be simply about stacking algorithms and computing power but about system-level AI capabilities + applications + hardware collaboration.

Some institutions even posit that the integration of this 'on-device/on-system AI' with traditional mobile manufacturers + application ecosystems may signal that 2026 could become the 'year of on-device AI'.

03

The AI Phone Battle Has Just Commenced

The launch of the Doubao Mobile Assistant is not perceived as an isolated event in the industry but may become a pivotal node in driving the 'AI phone' wave.

Research from Guotai Haitong Securities indicates that the Doubao large model is anticipated to be deeply integrated into the mobile phone operating system level, with capabilities to read screen content, remember user habits, and call application interfaces, fostering the formation of an Agent form.

The entire mobile phone industry is currently accelerating its evolution towards AI. Apple plans to introduce an AI search tool, World Knowledge Answers, in the spring of 2026 and deeply integrate it into Siri to advance generative AI applications.

Huafu Securities states that since October 2023, mainstream manufacturers such as Apple, vivo, OPPO, and Honor have intensively released flagship new products, generally focusing on AI functions.

Dongwu Securities believes that the development of on-device AI will drive hardware upgrades and become the core impetus for a new round of phone replacement.

Industry analysts predict that with its differentiated interactive experience, this phone equipped with the Doubao Mobile Assistant is expected to become an industry sensation by the end of the year.

The consensus among multiple industry analysts is that AI is transitioning from auxiliary interaction to an 'embodied intelligent agent,' with application scenarios expanding to high-value tasks such as multimodal understanding, content generation, and personalized productivity.

Summary

From Doubao App to Doubao Mobile Assistant, the AI Phone Industry Will Be Redefined

The release of the Doubao Mobile Assistant is not merely a product iteration but more akin to a reconstruction of the triangular relationship between 'mobile phone - application AI assistant.' It endeavors to transform AI from an 'addition' to 'infrastructure': not just an assistant but becoming an integral part of the mobile phone system itself.

In the future, as more manufacturers and devices access 'system-level AI assistants,' we may be astounded to find that 'using a mobile phone' is no longer about 'opening an app' but about 'telling the phone to do something for me'.

Of course, there is still a considerable journey ahead before widespread adoption. The current version is limited to prototypes, and functional stability, compatibility, security, and privacy protection mechanisms all necessitate time for testing.

But regardless, for consumers, manufacturers, supply chains, AI companies... for everyone, this marks a new beginning.