ZTE revealed on March 31 that it’s deepening collaboration with ByteDance to speed up the event and commercialization of a brand new technology of Doubao AI smartphones.
The partnership builds on earlier progress: in December 2025, ZTE’s sub-brand Nubia launched a technical preview of the Nubia M153 Doubao AI telephone assistant, priced at RMB 3,499 ($483). The gadget integrates the Doubao assistant deeply into the working system, granting system-level permissions that allow it to know and execute complicated, cross-app instructions through pure language.
For instance, customers can merely say “I’m hungry,” and the telephone will mechanically open a meals supply app and place an order. It will probably additionally generate captions for pictures and put up them on to social media by coordinating throughout apps—with out guide switching.
ZTE Vice President Bai Gang described this expertise as “autonomous driving for smartphones,” marking a shift from “people working telephones” to “AI working telephones for you.” The engineering prototype offered out rapidly after launch, changing into one in every of China’s first examples of a system-level AI-native smartphone.
Notably, ByteDance has reiterated that it has no plans to develop its personal {hardware}, as a substitute pursuing an ecosystem-driven technique—embedding its massive fashions deeply into associate working techniques somewhat than providing standalone apps. ZTE gives the underlying system adaptation and hardware-level optimization to help this integration.
At MWC 2026, the Nubia M153 debuted globally as what the corporate known as the “first really AI-native smartphone.”
ZTE Chairman Fang Rong additional revealed on the Boao Discussion board for Asia 2026 that the corporate has launched its in-house agent platform “Co-Claw” (codename “Lobster”) and hinted {that a} associated AI-powered smartphone might debut this 12 months. She emphasised that AI agent telephones—just like the Doubao-powered gadget—are designed to enhance human functionality somewhat than change it.
ZTE shouldn’t be alone on this race. World gamers akin to Google and Samsung showcased comparable AI telephone ideas at MWC, whereas Chinese language producers together with Huawei, Honor, Vivo, and OPPO are quickly integrating massive AI fashions into their techniques.
The AI smartphone market is now on the verge of a breakout. In accordance with IDC, China’s next-generation AI telephone shipments are anticipated to achieve 147 million models in 2026—accounting for 53% of whole smartphone shipments for the primary time, up 31.6% year-on-year. In distinction, general smartphone shipments are projected to say no by 10.5%, making AI telephones the business’s main development driver. In the meantime, information from the China Academy of Data and Communications Expertise reveals world on-device massive mannequin deployments surged 217% year-on-year in Q1 2026, with AI telephones rising as the important thing utility state of affairs.
Supply: Jiemian Information
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