Chinese smartphone brands beat Apple to the AI punch at home

With no word on when Apple Intelligence will arrive in China, domestic players from Xiaomi to Honor are touting their own AI features

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Xiaomi president Lu Weibing introduces the company’s latest flagship handsets in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:00pm, 31 Oct 2024

Chinese smartphone makers from Honor to Xiaomi are flexing their muscles in on-device artificial-intelligence (AI) software, trying to get a head start in their home market before Apple launches its own competing system there.

Honor, a spin-off from Huawei Technologies, on Wednesday debuted its self-developed AI agent Yoyo on its new flagship Magic 7 series handsets. The tool is designed to help users complete tasks on their smartphones with simple voice commands.

At the launch event, Honor CEO George Zhao Ming demonstrated the feature by asking his Magic 7 handset to “order something to drink for 2,000 people”. Without Zhao touching the screen, the AI agent automatically placed an order based on his past purchase preferences.

The Magic 7 will be the first smartphone that allows Chinese consumers to experience an AI agent similar to Apple Intelligence, the iPhone’s on-device AI system, Zhao had said earlier. The US tech giant is still working with mainland authorities to clear the regulatory hurdles needed to bring its new AI features to the country.

Honor launched its Magic 7 series smartphones with AI features on Wednesday. Photo: Weibo/ 科技小辛

Xiaomi, China’s third bestselling smartphone brand, also compared its HyperAI system to Apple Intelligence. At a launch event on Tuesday, the company said its new Xiaomi 15 handset series “comprehensively surpasses” the iPhone 16 Pro in AI capabilities, offering writing assistance, real-time transcription and translation.