Chinese smartphone maker Oppo in weekly AI talks with Google, Microsoft

BEIJING – Chinese smartphone company Oppo is doubling down on artificial intelligence as it holds weekly talks on AI with senior management at Google and Microsoft in the open-up Open the flagship phone overseas.

The collaboration is part of the race to discover the next application of artificial intelligence. The emergence of generative AI – technology that can generate human-like responses when prompted – has companies from Apple for Honeywell quickly tapped into his abilities.

“Google will also come to China to ask, what are the needs and pain points you have with your products? Let’s solve them together,” said Billy Zhang, president of Oppo’s overseas market, sales and service, told reporters last week at the office company. in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. That’s according to CNBC’s translation of the commentary in Mandarin.

“We understand the needs of consumers, and we will use AI to satisfy (them),” Zhang said. The company is developing more in Europe, but has no immediate plans for the US, he said.

Oppo, which also owns the OnePlus brand, said generating around 60% of revenue from Southeast Asia, Europe and other overseas markets. The company ranked fourth globally in terms of smartphone shipments in the third quarter, making up 9% of all units shipped, according to Canalys. Samsung and Apple were tied for first place, followed by Xiaomi.

While the U.S. leads in AI capabilities, experts suggest Chinese companies will have the edge when it comes to consumer applications of the technology. Despite US restrictions on high-end chip exports to China.

Oppo has said that its upcoming flagship smartphone will come with AI recording and recording tools Google’s Gemini, and content generation features from Microsoft. Microsoft uses OpenAI products such as ChatGPT.

It is not clear whether the existing Oppo models use AI tools from the two tech companies. Oppo has not announced when the flagship phone will be available worldwide.

Oppo in June announced plans to integrate generative AI into 50 million devices this year. Existing AI tools grant touch up photos – such as removing window shadows. Oppo also has bots like ChatGPT.

In addition to the partnership, Oppo said it has been developing its own AI model since 2020 and opened an AI center in February.

“We are very optimistic about AI and have invested with great determination,” Zhang said. “AI is the most important area for technology in the future. All industries can be transformed by AI.”

Counterpoint Research predicts generative AI smartphone shipments will increase to 732 million in 2028 from 46 million last year, according to a whitepaper published Wednesday. The report does not specify the complexity of these generative AI features.

Apple next week is due to release its first software update with AI tools. The next update will allow the removal of unwanted elements in photos, and integration with ChatGPT, the iPhone maker said Wednesday.

Chinese smartphone company Honor on Wednesday announced the next version of its operating system that can use AI to mimic touchscreen actions, such as opening an app to order coffee.

Oppo plans to integrate AI into its factories, which are increasingly automated, Zhang said. “Today, automation improves quality and stability, reduces production costs and increases unit yield.”

On its production line for entry-level smartphones in Dongguan, near Shenzhen, Oppo this year replaced about 8% of its workers with machines, and moved those employees to work on more complex and higher-end phones.

Other companies have announced plans to integrate generative AI with the industrial sector. Honeywell this week announced a deal with Google’s Gemini to create AI assistants for factory workers and systems.

Oppo is rolling out its digital management system to factories in seven more countries, starting with India and Indonesia. The company also produces phones in Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil and Egypt.

“Because our manufacturing process is largely digitized and standardized, growing and expanding into the global market is easier,” Danny Du, director of manufacturing management at Oppo told CNBC.

Oppo has reduced manufacturing costs by nearly 40% in three years, Du said, adding that technology integration with factory machines and systems has reduced production time to six days, from 16. He said Oppo can respond to market orders faster. rather than relying on long-term forecasts where there is a risk of unsalable inventory.

– CNBC’s Kif Leswing and Eric Rosenbaum contributed to this report.