Chinese smartphone companies tout AI features ahead of Apple Intelligence launch

cnbc.com:

BEIJING — Chinese smartphone companies are rolling out artificial intelligence features for local users, adding pressure onApple.

The U.S.-based iPhone company is expected to launch Apple Intelligence on eligible devices next week — but only to users not in mainland China or the European Union. Apple fell out of the top five smartphone players in China earlier this year, according to research firm Canalys.

Competitors have increasingly focused on integrating AI with alternative operating systems.

Telecommunications giant Huawei on Tuesday launched an upgrade to its HarmonyOS system that eliminated reliance on the Google-created Android operating system.

The new HarmonyOS uses in-house AI to allow users to translate text, take notes and edit photos, according to the company. U.S. sanctions cut Huawei off from Google, prompting the Chinese company to launch its own operating system, HarmonyOS, in 2019. The newly released OS is reportedly a fully self-developed system and is not based on Android open source software.

Honor, a spinoff from Huawei that focuses on higher-end devices, revealed Wednesday the latest version of its Android-based Magic operating system would focus on AI as an assistant.

A company demo showed how even with a vague voice command — such as «I'm tired, order something» — the phone was able to automatically order coffee without requiring the user to touch the device. It used AI to mimic actions on a touchscreen. Human intervention was only needed to complete the payment.

The AI assistant could also identify documents and send them to contacts, or make calls via social media app WeChat, all without requiring the user to touch the phone.

For devices in China, Honor works with Baidu and other Chinese