ByteDance rolls out AI voice assistant for Chinese smartphones

BEIJING – Chinese tech giant ByteDance said on Dec 1 that it is launching an AI voice control tool that will debut on a smartphone made by ZTE Corp, before becoming available on phones from other manufacturers in due course.

The AI assistant, powered by ByteDance’s popular Doubao large language model, allows users to voice activate tasks such as finding content and booking tickets.

The tool will compete with similar AI features introduced by Chinese smartphone makers such as Huawei and Xiaomi. Apple has yet to make its Apple Intelligence available in China, though Alibaba has said it would partner with Apple to develop AI features for iPhones in the country.

ByteDance’s AI voice tool will first appear on ZTE’s Nubia M153 handset, currently a prototype priced at 3,499 yuan (S$640). The device is available for pre-order in limited quantities.

Shares in ZTE surged 10 per cent on Dec 1, their highest level since Oct 29, helped by reports of the phone as well as news that it had won a string of contracts to supply 5G equipment in Vietnam.

ByteDance said in a statement it has no plans to develop its own smartphones and is in talks with multiple phone makers to roll out the AI voice assistant.

ByteDance, which owns TikTok and the short video app’s Chinese version Douyin, has emerged as the leading player in consumer AI apps in China due to its chatbot Doubao.

Doubao had 159 million monthly active users in October, far more than Tencent’s Yuanbao at 73 million and DeepSeek at 72 million, according to AI product tracking platform Aicpb.com. REUTERS

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