Preface:

When large models want to enter the mobile phone market, they come to the Achilles' heel of big factories on the hardware side. After weighing costs and performance among mobile phone manufacturers, AI phones that integrate the technologies of multiple large models from Baidu, Alibaba, and ByteDance were born.

Author | Fang Wensan

Image Source | Network

Releasing the value of edge-side AI, smart phone shipments increase

In the same period last year, due to global economic uncertainty and low consumer confidence, China's smartphone market shipments once fell into a trough.

However, with the quiet start of a new round of phone replacement cycle and the strong return of key vendors like Huawei, the market quickly rebounded, demonstrating remarkable resilience and potential.

Data shows that in the first half of this year, China's smartphone market shipments have exceeded 140 million units, an increase of 7.7% year-on-year, laying a solid foundation for sustained growth in the market throughout the year.

It is worth mentioning that while mobile phone manufacturers are actively deploying the AI track, they are also widely deployed in areas such as wearable devices and smart homes, further unlocking the value of edge-side AI.

The trend of large model hardware landing

Mobile phones, as universal terminal products, currently have domestic mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, OPPO, vivo, and Honor launching their own AI large models and evolving towards generative AI phones.

Among them, Huawei's HarmonyOS NEXT operating system relies on the powerful computing power of Ascend and the Pangu large model, introducing system-level AI capabilities. The brand new "Xiaoyi Super Agent" has achieved significant enhancements in areas such as memory perception, reasoning planning, knowledge enhancement, and service distribution.

vivo's AI BlueHeart large model enables over 700 mobile phone-related functions, providing AI services such as super question-and-answer, super creation, super search, super management, and super interaction to over 20 million users.

Honor focuses on the core capability of the Magic large model's "service finds people," leveraging multiple product entry points such as YOYO Suggestions, Honor Search, and YOYO Assistant to proactively initiate services, achieving a seamless experience across applications, platforms, and devices.

OPPO has redefined the four characteristics of AI phones, efficiently utilizing computing resources to meet the demands of generative AI computing power. AI phones can perceive the real world, understand complex information about users and their environment, possess self-learning capabilities, and demonstrate creativity to continuously provide users with knowledge and inspiration.

Leading large model service providers also join the AI phone trend

Last May, Baidu's Xiaodu Technology announced its intention to enter the smartphone market and planned to release its first smartphone integrating Xiaodu AI technology capabilities by late May.

However, instead of a grand return to the mobile phone market after eight years, what was eventually unveiled was the "Xiaodu Qinghe" AI learning machine.

On the other hand, ByteDance reportedly secretly launched an AI phone research and development project in April this year. The core team involved in the project is primarily composed of the Hammer phone R&D team acquired by ByteDance in 2019 and the PICO VR R&D team acquired in 2021.

Subsequently, however, ByteDance clarified that the information was inaccurate and that they were actually exploring large model software solutions based on mobile phones for reference by mobile phone manufacturers.

Alibaba's large model gained traction when MediaTek, a mobile chip supplier, announced in March this year that it had successfully deployed the Tongyi Qianwen large model on flagship chips such as the Dimensity 9300. This marked the first time a large model was deeply adapted to a mobile chip. Tongyi Qianwen can smoothly run multiple rounds of AI dialogues even offline.

In July, Samsung unveiled its sixth-generation foldable phones, the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip6 series. In addition to existing partnerships with Baidu Smart Cloud, Meitu, and Kingsoft Office, they added Volcano Engine to integrate the Doubao large model for the intelligent assistant and AI vision of their latest foldable phones.

Apple's "AI phone" arrives later but with a bang

Apple's long-awaited AI capabilities were finally unveiled in the iOS 18.1 Developer Preview Beta 1 released on July 30. Not only has Siri's intelligence been enhanced, but additional AI capabilities are also refreshing.

For example, the new Siri has more capabilities, allowing users to ask Siri to find a specific photo on their phone or recommend nearby restaurants and cuisines, among other convenient features.

The newly added AI writing tool, Writing Tools, boasts proofreading, rewriting, and summarizing functions that can be used during chat and reading, likely leveraging a third-party large model for language processing support.

While Apple does not have its own large model, it recently released the open-source small model DCLM, which comes in two parameter sizes – 7 billion and 1.4 billion, and is fully open-source. Apple's choice of an open-source model that doesn't align with its usual style is driven by its desire to leverage these small models in conjunction with other companies' large models.

This is also why iOS can call upon AI capabilities from OpenAI, Google, etc., in foreign countries. Currently, OpenAI supports 161 countries and regions, excluding mainland China and Hong Kong. There was once widespread speculation that iOS would integrate Baidu Wenxin, but nothing has materialized so far.

It is evident that Apple is in talks with multiple large model companies, and no single large model vendor can become the sole AI supplier for Apple.

Future development trends of AI phones

More powerful computing power and performance: With continuous advancements in chip technology, the computing power of AI phones will further improve, enabling better support for complex AI tasks and applications.

More intelligent interaction experience: AI phones will achieve more natural and intelligent human-computer interaction through various means such as voice, gestures, and eye gaze, providing users with a more convenient and efficient experience.

Richer application scenarios: AI phones will find widespread use in various fields such as healthcare, education, finance, and agriculture, bringing more convenience and innovation to people's lives and work.

Closer ecosystem integration: Mobile phone manufacturers will collaborate with AI developers, content providers, and others to jointly create a richer and more comprehensive AI ecosystem, offering users more quality services and content.

Conclusion:

Under the scrutiny of countless mobile phone users, this will be a genuine head-to-head competition in the large model space, further exposing the true capabilities of various large models to the light of day. This will accelerate the reshaping of the landscape and market reshuffle. Both mobile phone manufacturers and large model enterprises are engaged in an AI process that benefits both parties.

Content References: Tech News: Baidu, Alibaba, ByteDance Make Peace in the AI Phone Market; Communication Industry Network: Who is Leading the AI Transformation in Mobile Phones?; AI Selection Society: Apple vs. Huawei, Whose AI Capabilities are Stronger?; Smart Things: AI Phones, Apple Following Android's Lead?