Chinese smartphone company Oppo ranks second in mainland China and fourth globally, according to Canalys.
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BEIJING—Chinese smartphone company Oppo is increasing its investment in artificial intelligence, holding weekly discussions about it with Google and Google’s senior management. Microsoft before the overseas launch of its flagship phone.
These collaborations are part of a race to find the next application of artificial intelligence. The rise of generative AI — technology that can produce human-like responses when prompted — has companies apple arrive Honeywell Eager to tap into its capabilities.
“Google will also come to China and ask us, what are the needs and pain points of your products? Let us solve them together,” Zhang Billy, Oppo’s president of overseas marketing, sales and services, told reporters last week at the company’s office in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. That’s according to CNBC’s translation of his Mandarin remarks.
“We understand the needs of consumers and we will use artificial intelligence to meet (them),” Zhang said. He said the company is expanding further in Europe but has no current plans to enter the United States.
Oppo, which also owns the OnePlus brand, said About 60% of revenue comes from overseas markets such as Southeast Asia and Europe. company Ranked 4th globally According to Canalys, smartphone shipments accounted for 9% of total shipments in the third quarter. Samsung and Apple tied for first place, followed by Millet.
While the United States leads in artificial intelligence capabilities, experts say Chinese companies will have an advantage in consumer applications of the technology. This is despite U.S. restrictions on exports of high-end chips to China.
OPPO once stated Upcoming flagship smartphones will be equipped with AI Writing and recording summary tools Google’s Gemini and content generation capabilities from microsoft. Microsoft adopts OpenAI products such as ChatGPT.
It’s unclear to what extent existing Oppo models use the two tech companies’ AI tools. Oppo has yet to announce when its flagship phone will be available globally.
AI smartphones will usher in growth
Oppo announced the news in June Plans to integrate generative artificial intelligence into 50 million devices This year. its existing artificial intelligence tools allow Retouch photos – such as removing window reflections. Oppo also has a bot similar to ChatGPT.
In addition to the collaboration, Oppo said it has developed its own AI models since 2020 and opened an AI center in February.
“We are very optimistic about artificial intelligence and are very determined to invest,” Zhang said. “Artificial intelligence is the most important technological field in the future, and all industries can be changed by artificial intelligence.”
Counterpoint Research predicts that shipments of generative AI smartphones will surge from 46 million units last year to 732 million units in 2028. White paper released on Wednesday. The report does not specify how sophisticated these generative AI capabilities are.
Apple will publicly release its first software update with artificial intelligence tools next week. The iPhone maker said Wednesday that a subsequent update will allow the removal of unwanted elements from photos and integrate with ChatGPT.
Chinese smartphone company Honor on Wednesday unveiled the next version of its operating system that uses artificial intelligence to mimic actions on a touch screen, such as opening an app to order coffee delivery.
Technology to improve production efficiency
Oppo plans to incorporate artificial intelligence into its increasingly automated factories, Zhang said. “Today, automation improves quality and stability, reduces production costs and increases unit output.”
Oppo this year replaced about 8% of workers on an entry-level smartphone production line in Dongguan, near Shenzhen, with machines and moved those workers to more complex, higher-end phones.
Other companies have announced plans to combine generative AI with industry. Honeywell this week announced a deal with Google Gemini to create artificial intelligence assistants for factory workers and systems.
Oppo is rolling out the digital management system to factories in seven other countries, starting with India and Indonesia. The company also manufactures mobile phones in Türkiye, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil and Egypt.
“Since our manufacturing processes are digitized and standardized to a large extent, it is much easier to develop and expand into global markets,” Danny Du, Oppo’s director of manufacturing management, told CNBC.
Over three years, Oppo has reduced manufacturing costs by nearly 40 percent, Du said, adding that technological integration with factory machines and systems has shortened production time from 16 days to six days. market orders rather than relying on long-term forecasts that carry the risk of unsold inventory.
— CNBC’s Kif Leswing and Eric Rosenbaum contributed to this report.
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