Author | Bishan

Source | Bowang Finance

On September 1, the Nubia NaviX Ultra secured network access approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The "second-generation Doubao phone" is set to officially launch in September, joining the ranks of Apple's foldable screens, Huawei's triple-folding phones, Xiaomi, Honor, and Vivo in what promises to be the most competitive annual smartphone release schedule. Nine months ago, the first-generation engineering model sold out its 30,000 units in mere seconds, with the second-hand market seeing prices soar by up to 3,500 yuan. However, this initial success was soon halted by risk control measures implemented by major super apps. The second generation has addressed compliance and mass production challenges, but its real obstacle lies not within the phone itself, but rather in its absence from a crucial list.

In December of the previous year, the Nubia M153, featuring a technical preview of the Doubao phone assistant, achieved a groundbreaking feat: it enabled the phone to perform tasks on behalf of the user. Users could simply instruct the phone to book tickets, order food delivery, or compare prices, and Doubao would take over, reading the screen, identifying buttons, and executing tasks directly within third-party apps. The 3,499 yuan engineering prototype, limited to 30,000 units, sold out instantly upon release, with second-hand platforms reselling it for a premium of up to 3,500 yuan.

However, trouble arose swiftly alongside its newfound fame. The ability to "click for you" posed a threat to the interests of super apps—users no longer needed to open the apps first, and entry points, recommendations, and transactions, previously controlled by the apps, could now be intercepted by intermediary agents. As observed later, super apps like WeChat activated risk control measures, and the Doubao team voluntarily disabled AI operations in sensitive areas such as finance and gaming. The first-generation Doubao phone demonstrated technical feasibility but also inadvertently tested commercial boundaries: while technology can bypass apps, business cannot bypass those who control traffic and transactions.

01

The Second Generation's Strategy Shift: From Forced Entry to Polite Knocking

Nine months later, the second generation returned with a significant change: it no longer forces its way in. The Doubao phone assistant transitioned from screen-reading simulated clicks to protocol calls like MCP and A2A—Doubao can only access what apps are willing to share, effectively knocking before entering. A series of compliance measures followed: completing end-side large model filing on July 15, winning the SAIL Award at WAIC, securing network access approval on September 1, and becoming the world's first AI agent phone to complete the full process of "large model filing plus terminal network access." Core computations are performed on the end side, with data remaining on the device. Ni Fei, president of Nubia, bluntly stated, "Ensuring user trust is the prerequisite for technological innovation."

These compromises yielded tangible results: Nubia enhanced its hardware, supply chain, and distribution channels; dozens of apps within the ByteDance ecosystem completed protocol access; and inventory increased from 30,000 units in the first generation to approximately 200,000 units. The new approach eliminates the need for repeated screen-reading to locate buttons or concerns about account risk control and page revisions. However, the cost is evident: Doubao can only perform tasks permitted by external apps, and new feature rollouts depend on negotiations between both parties, with recommendation, transaction, and data gates still controlled by the platforms.

02

Doubao's Absence from the List

The issue is that while Doubao has learned to knock politely, the seats inside are nearly all occupied. According to media reports, since June this year, WeChat has begun granting A2A capabilities to Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo. Honor was the first to complete adaptation, with its YOYO assistant now capable of initiating WeChat audio/video calls and sending messages to specified contacts. Reports indicate that about half of Honor's active devices already support this functionality. The list continues to grow, but Nubia and Doubao are not on it.

Why not? Because granting A2A access is not a technical decision but a business one. For WeChat, opening interfaces to whom is akin to renting out entry rights: Huawei and Xiaomi possess hundreds of millions of existing devices and have no business conflicts with WeChat. Behind Doubao stands ByteDance, a company that simultaneously controls content recommendation, e-commerce, and local services, directly competing with WeChat, Taobao, and Alipay in transaction scenarios. Allowing Doubao to place orders with a single command is equivalent to ceding the top of the transaction funnel to a rival model. This dilemma is more challenging to resolve than any technical hurdle.

Inventory levels vividly illustrate the gap between the two sides. The second-generation Doubao phone has approximately 200,000 units in stock, while mainstream manufacturers boast tens of millions of existing devices. Device scale is precisely the condition app vendors prioritize when deciding openness. Zhang Xiaorong, dean of DeepTech Research Institute, bluntly stated, "The ecosystem is the real moat for AI phones. Models determine whether a phone can handle tasks, but ecosystem position determines whether there are tasks to handle."

03

ByteDance's Strategic Calculations

Another significant shift has occurred within ByteDance: this year, the company has redirected substantial resources toward AI for office and enterprise services. In late July, the Feishu product team and the Doubao product team merged into a new Doubao product team, with Feishu's sales and marketing teams incorporated into Volcano Engine to uniformly handle enterprise services. At the mid-year all-hands meeting in August, Liang Rubo emphasized that AI's progress in productivity had exceeded expectations and that the To B sector had become increasingly important, with over 90% of Feishu's new clients simultaneously purchasing Feishu AI products. He also expressed hope that Doubao would one day become a "trunk" business like Douyin. Doubao Pro also introduced monthly subscription tiers of 68, 200, and 500 yuan in June, and the Doubao app began gray-testing one-click ride-hailing in Beijing and Hangzhou.

From this perspective, the Doubao phone's role within ByteDance becomes clear: it serves more as an experimental field than a standalone business. Job listings on the Doubao phone assistant's official website have expanded to include underlying directions such as Android system customization, BSP, Telephony, end-side memory, and sensor fusion—investments that far exceed merely "pre-installing an assistant on Nubia phones." Google's Pixel provides a ready reference: it doesn't rely on hardware for profit but instead validates new models and interactions first, then rolls out mature capabilities to the entire Android ecosystem. Doubao phone serves the same purpose: using a mass-produced real device to verify whether Doubao can stably deliver services, drive membership payments, and facilitate ByteDance ecosystem transactions, then replicating the model with more manufacturers. The 200,000-unit inventory level precisely reflects that ByteDance doesn't expect it to drive sales but rather to achieve strategic goals—on this front, ByteDance has already emerged victorious.