🎙 Listen to a summary of this story
China’s smartphone makers are pitching artificial intelligence as the next big change in how people use their phones. The competition is real, but it is not simply a contest for a single “AI phone” market. Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo and HONOR are building features into their own devices and operating systems, while Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent are trying to bring their models and services closer to the point where people use them.
That distinction matters. Some features generate or summarise text, edit photographs or translate speech. More ambitious systems attempt to carry out tasks across apps, such as finding a service or making a booking. Their success depends not only on the model but also on software permissions, app compatibility and users’ willingness to let an assistant act on their behalf.
Phone makers build AI into their own systems
Huawei’s approach is among the most closely tied to its own software ecosystem. Its HarmonyOS assistant, Xiaoyi, is being developed to handle more conversational and agent-like tasks, and Huawei describes AI as integrated with the operating system. That gives the company scope to coordinate features across its devices. It does not, by itself, show that Huawei has secured dominance: the practical reach of those features depends on which devices support them, what services they can access and how well they work in everyday use. Huawei’s assistant overview sets out the company’s stated capabilities and compatibility limits.
Other Chinese manufacturers are pursuing similar goals through their own software. Xiaomi promotes HyperAI features across its phones, while its global products also offer Google’s Gemini and Circle to Search, with availability varying by region and language. Xiaomi’s product specifications illustrate how a handset can combine its maker’s AI tools with services from another company.
OPPO says its longer-term plan combines on-device computing, a system to give its assistant memory of user preferences and a framework for connecting AI agents to services. The company has described these as foundations for a future AI operating system, rather than proof that every promised capability is already broadly available. Its partnership announcement with Google Cloud outlines that plan. Vivo, meanwhile, promotes AI tools within OriginOS, including accessibility and productivity features, and has highlighted controls intended to give users more transparency over an assistant’s permissions. Vivo’s account of OriginOS 6 describes its approach.
HONOR has positioned itself as an “AI phone” pioneer, combining features on its devices with partnerships beyond the handset maker. It announced an AI partnership with Alibaba in 2025, and Alibaba said in September 2026 that HONOR was the first phone maker to adopt its Qwen Intelligence platform. The companies say it is designed to let assistants manage tasks across apps; Alibaba has said commercial products are planned for 2027. Those statements describe a development and rollout plan, not an independent measure of how reliable the system will be once in users’ hands. Alibaba’s announcement details the partnership.
The commercial stakes are significant, but AI is only one factor in phone sales. IDC estimated that China’s smartphone shipments fell 4.3% year on year in the second quarter of 2026. Huawei led with 22.6% of shipments and Apple was second with 18.1%; OPPO and vivo followed, with Xiaomi and HONOR also among the leading brands. IDC attributed the overall decline partly to higher component costs and price increases. The figures underline that brand position, pricing and replacement cycles still matter alongside new software. IDC’s market analysis provides the rankings and context.
Internet companies want to be the assistant behind the screen
ByteDance has tested a more direct route. In December 2025, it worked with handset maker ZTE on a limited-run Nubia M153 featuring its Doubao assistant, which could use the phone interface to carry out tasks. The move gave ByteDance a presence closer to the operating system, but it also exposed a basic problem for agent-style phones: other apps may restrict automated access. Users reported login problems with WeChat and difficulties using other services. ByteDance said it would adjust the assistant’s functions. The episode showed that controlling the AI does not mean controlling the wider app ecosystem. Reuters’ report on the launch and the South China Morning Post’s account of the app restrictions describe the early test.
Alibaba’s strategy is broader than supplying a chatbot. Its Qwen app has been connected to services including Taobao, Alipay, travel booking and mapping, allowing users to move from a question towards a transaction within one interface. The company is also offering phone makers an agent platform. That creates a potential bridge between Alibaba’s services and manufacturers’ operating systems, though any assistant acting across services will need users’ authorisation and cooperation from the apps involved. Reuters reported on the Qwen app’s service integrations.
Tencent’s advantage is different: WeChat is already central to messaging, payments and services in China. The Financial Times reported in June 2026 that Tencent was testing an AI agent within WeChat to automate tasks through mini-programs. That is a reported development, not evidence that Tencent has launched a phone-wide assistant. The distinction helps explain why an AI race among internet companies can overlap with, but is not identical to, competition among handset makers. The Financial Times report describes the testing.
Control, trust and useful tasks will decide the outcome
The strongest claim in the original account is that these companies are already competing to set global standards or that complex local AI models are the decisive strategic advantage. Those outcomes remain uncertain. Phone assistants often combine on-device functions with cloud services, and the balance varies by feature, model and market. Running some tasks on a device can help with speed and privacy, but it does not eliminate the need for network access, app permissions or dependable services.
For manufacturers, the challenge is to make AI useful enough to justify a new phone while keeping the experience reliable. For internet companies, the prize is a more prominent place between users and the services they already use. But an assistant that can read screens or operate apps also raises questions about sensitive data, mistaken actions and who is responsible when a transaction goes wrong.
China’s phone market includes powerful rivals with different strengths: Huawei’s operating system and device ecosystem; Xiaomi’s scale and mix of in-house and partner services; OPPO and vivo’s large handset businesses and software investments; and HONOR’s efforts to build an AI identity through product development and partnerships. ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent add competition over models, apps and services. The next phase will be judged less by claims of “AI supremacy” than by whether these systems work across phones and apps, protect user information and reliably complete tasks people actually want done.
```
