TL;DR
ZTE unveiled the NaviX Ultra at WAIC, calling it the first agent AI smartphone. Manages ByteDance’s Doubao agent. StepFun and Honor demonstrated similar devices.
ZTE has unveiled the NaviX Ultra called it the world’s first agent AI smartphone at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai this week. Built under ZTE’s Nubia brand, the device works with ByteDance’s Doubao AI agent and can be activated by voice or a dedicated button. It comes in four colors and was prototyped in December for 3,499 yuan ($516). The initial 30,000 sold quickly and doubled in price on the used market.
ZTE was not alone. StepFun introduced a device running a custom operating system with a built-in agent called Amoo. Honor, the smartphone maker spun off from Huawei, is showing off an artificial intelligence agent developed with Alibaba that will ship in new devices later this year. The idea is the same for all three: instead of tying isolated AI features into an existing interface, build an agent layer into the operating system that allows the AI to autonomously perform tasks between applications. “Many so-called AI phones on the market simply stack AI functions on top of the existing system,“The head of Nubia said Nie Fei.”This actually makes it more difficult for users.“
The timing is not random. China’s smartphone shipments have declined for five consecutive quarters the memory crunch raised component costs and depressed consumer demand. IDC expects the global smartphone market to reach a record annual decline in 2026. AI phones are their salvation. IDC’s Arthur Guo said AI-enabled devices could dominate more than half of China’s smartphone market this year.
The startups are also deepening competition with Apple, which won Beijing’s approval to roll out Apple Intelligence in China through partnerships with Alibaba and Baidu. “In terms of AI smart devices, we are ahead of Apple,” Ni said on Weibo in June. The artificial intelligence boom that killed the cheap smartphone it also creates an argument for a new phone type. Whether an agent that books flights and edits photos will be enough to get people to replace the device they already own is a question the market will have to answer by the end of the year.
