Today analyst firm Canalys released a report stating that local Chinese smartphone makers have recently been actively investing in self-developedLarge Language Model（LLM). As SoCs are updated and market storage configurations are rapidly upgraded, Chinese vendors are starting to focus more on end-side AI capabilities.
Local Chinese vendors have an ecological advantage in their local markets, which allows AI to be more effective. They typically have higher add-on rates in the local market and offer more comprehensive hardware product coverage. With broad hardware category coverage and a solid user base, AI can lead to more diverse usage scenarios and a more seamless multi-device experience.
Chinese manufacturers are expected to be the first to bring AI PhoneBreaking into lower price segments to accelerate AI phone penetration. Chinese vendors have begun to offer flagship-level performance in a competitive price segment. These devices have end-side generative AI runtime performance and offer generative AI features that will provide a differentiated usage experience.
Chinese vendors are expected to have a greater advantage in the mid-range market, as overseas vendors are struggling to offer devices with the same hardware performance in the corresponding price segments, thus widening the gap between end-side AI experiences in the mid-range market.
The strong brand appeal of local vendors allows them to gain a competitive advantage by working closely with local developers. Several Chinese software giants have already partnered with Huawei to develop native apps for its HarmonyOS NEXT operating system that are independent of the Android app ecosystem. A similar model is expected to emerge in AI app development, creating a competitive advantage for vendors.