Chinese smartphone brands embrace AI powerhouse chip
Chinese firms attended MediaTek's conference on Tuesday to boost generative AI in smartphones.
Mainstream Chinese smartphone brands will adopt MediaTek's upgraded AI-powered chip, which helps them differentiate product lines and keep generative artificial intelligence advantages over Apple's iPhone, industry officials said on Tuesday.
This move signifies a strategic shift for Chinese manufacturers, amidst a growing focus on generative AI technology, a powerful tool for creating new content and experiences.
Vivo and its sub-brand iQOO and Oppo will adopt MediaTek Dimensity's upgraded AI chips in their next-generation smartphone models. Other firms, such as Honor and Xiaomi, have attended a pioneering AI plan to boost generative AI phones, they said during the MediaTek Dimensity Developer Conference on Tuesday.
During the conference, MediaTek and researcher Counterpoint, along with Chinese tech firms including Alibaba, Tencent and Baichuan AI, released a white paper on generative AI's integration with smartphone development.
By 2027, generative AI smartphone sales will hit 1 billion units to popularize AI's applications among the public, coming with a complete industry chain and booming developer community, according to the white paper.
Generative AI revolutionizes the use value of smartphone applications. MediaTek will empower deep knowledge and rich experience in edge computing, bringing unprecedented innovation in human-computer interaction, productivity, and entertainment experience, said Chen Kuan-Chou, MediaTek's general manager and a board member.
MediaTek is one of the major third-party mobile chip designers along with Qualcomm. It helps Chinese brands integrate generative AI functions at the chip level.
It makes sense for them to strengthen AI functions which make their products competitive with Apple's iPhone in the high-end market segment, industry insiders said.
So far, iPhones don't feature the built-in artificial-intelligence functions offered by Chinese brands. But Apple is expected to release AI-related upgrades at its WWDC developer conference in June.
