China Rebuilding Smartphones Around AI Agents
ZTE’s NaviX sold out in hours. ZTE, StepFun, and Honor all showcased AI-native phones at WAIC this week. IDC expects AI smartphones to account for over half of China’s market in 2026.
ZTE Showcase NaviX Ultra
ZTE unveiled the NaviX Ultra at the World AI Conference in Shanghai, claiming it as the world’s first agentic AI smartphone. The device runs ByteDance’s Doubao AI agent and can be activated by voice or a dedicated button. It comes in four colors with an initial price of 3,499 yuan ($516). The limited edition of 30,000 units sold out quickly and doubled in price on the used market.
Other Device Launches
StepFun introduced a device with a proprietary operating system featuring an AI agent called Amoo. Honor, spun off from Huawei, demonstrated an AI agent co-developed with Alibaba that will be integrated into new devices later this year.
Shift in Smartphone Market
The move towards AI smartphones is not coincidental. China’s smartphone shipments have declined for five consecutive quarters due to rising component costs and waning consumer demand. IDC predicts a steep global decline in the smartphone market in 2026, with Chinese manufacturers especially hard hit. AI phones offer them an escape route. Arthur Guo of IDC estimates that AI devices could dominate more than half of China’s smartphone market this year.
Competition with Apple
The launches intensify competition with Apple, which has received approval to roll out Apple Intelligence in China through partnerships with Alibaba and Baidu. ZTE’s chief, Ni Fei, claimed on Weibo that "in terms of AI smart devices, we are ahead of Apple."
The Future of AI Smartphones
The question remains whether an AI agent capable of tasks like booking flights and editing photos will be enough to convince users to replace their existing devices. The market will determine the answer by year’s end.
By Darius Popa, Technology enthusiast and intern at The Next Web, contributing to research-backed content and investigating new technologies and global events.