ZTE: The biggest winner in the mobile phone industry in 2025 without much effort

Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO, vivo, Samsung, iPhone...

With so many mobile phone brands in the market, why is it ZTE, known as the "semi - transparent player in the mobile phone circle", that has reaped the first - round dividends of true AI mobile phones?

01

ZTE, the Semi - Transparent Player in the Mobile Phone Circle, Hits the Daily Limit

According to media reports, on December 1st, the Doubao team under ByteDance officially released the "Doubao Mobile Assistant Technical Preview Version". As an AI assistant directly embedded in the mobile phone system, the ZTE engineering prototype "nubia M153" associated with it has also become a hot topic on various technology forums.

Just from the demonstration video.

The nubia M153 not only supports APP wake - up but also supports AI assistant interaction via voice, side buttons, and headphones. Moreover, functions such as downloading software with a single sentence and cross - platform price comparison (telling the phone "Help me find out where it's most cost - effective to buy this bag of coffee beans", and the phone will automatically select products and compare prices on multiple e - commerce platforms and place orders) have also been successfully implemented.

In simple terms, the cooperation between Doubao and ZTE has, to some extent, realized Luo Yonghao and Zhou Hongyi's concept of "leaderAI + workerAI". Users only need to speak, and Doubao will break down the task into steps A, B, C, D, etc., and execute the corresponding operations on other software. In this way, the goal of "the mobile phone works on its own while the user only puts forward requirements and checks the results" is achieved.

Looking at the stock market, both the built - in topic of "ByteDance + ZTE" and the huge gap between the demonstration video and the current mobile assistants have made some investors decide to "go all in on ZTE" in a short period. On December 2nd, affected by the above news, the A - shares of ZTE Corporation hit the daily limit, closing at 46.3 yuan per share; the H - shares rose by as much as 13.94%, pushing the company's market value to 211.1 billion yuan.

In the second - hand trading market, the original price of 3,499 yuan for the nubia M153 has soared to 7,999 - 9,999 yuan (brand - new, unopened version), and the single - unit premium has even exceeded 6,500 yuan.

There is the enthusiastic feedback in the stock market, and there is the high - premium resale on the second - hand platform.

Seeing this, a question naturally arises in my mind: Since the market has such a warm response to "true AI mobile phones", why have manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Huawei, and OPPO not taken the lead, and why have model giants such as Baidu and OpenAI not launched their own AI mobile phones?

02

Why is ZTE the First to Take the Plunge?

Let's answer the above question in one sentence.

As a publicly sold product, the top priority for manufacturers regarding mobile assistants and mobile AI is not "being smart enough" but "being stable enough" and "being reliable enough".

Opening the product detail page of the nubia M153, there is a prompt with a higher priority than the phone preview pictures: "This product is only for industry insiders who want to experience the Doubao Mobile Assistant. The functionality of a mature product is not guaranteed. Ordinary consumers are advised to choose carefully."

It is known that the relevant product was publicly unveiled on December 1st and drove the stock price up sharply on December 2nd. But on December 3rd, news spread that "users of the 'Doubao Assistant' mobile phones had abnormal WeChat usage". (This is not the fault of Doubao, ZTE, or WeChat. We will explain this problem in detail later.)

If it were a publicly available flagship model of any manufacturer, it would surely bring a "T1 - level public opinion event" to the manufacturer's user reputation. After all, people buy mobile phones to use them. Problems such as software crashes and abnormal WeChat logins that disrupt daily experiences are unacceptable to consumers. Even if the relevant functions become more stable, questions about power consumption, overheating, and recognition accuracy associated with true AI mobile phones will still pose a major public opinion test for manufacturers. Therefore, compared with the upper - limit capabilities of AI assistants, current mobile phone manufacturers often care more about their lower - limit upgrades.

Similarly, it takes too long for model manufacturers to develop AI hardware independently, and the energy consumed in integrating the supply chain is too great. Even a powerful company like OpenAI has only launched preliminary cooperation on intelligent hardware with Luxshare Precision (mainly focusing on areas such as smart speakers and smart wearables). Mainstream practices in the industry include Alibaba's cooperation with Apple to empower Siri in the Chinese market and manufacturers such as OPPO and vivo launching mobile - side large models through cooperation or independent research.

The approach of ZTE providing the hardware platform and Doubao providing the core experience is precisely a niche choice in the industry.

03

The Next Competitive Point in the Mobile Phone Industry is Here

Let's get back to the problems of "the 'Doubao Mobile Phone' being logged out of WeChat" and "users of the 'Doubao Assistant' mobile phones having abnormal WeChat usage".

From a technical perspective, for an AI assistant to achieve the process of "opening software - finding the corresponding friend - actively typing and sending the user's intended message", it must interact with the "GUI Agent (Graphical Interface Intelligent Agent)". Because only by scanning all the graphics on the desktop and the user's friend list can the AI find WeChat and the corresponding contacts in various apps and send messages. In the module of sending WeChat messages, the AI will simulate the "click - and - input" behavior of human users and automatically type the sentences the user wants to say in the chat box.

You should have heard news like this:

A Qiang accidentally installed a XX virus software while surfing the Internet. As a result, the program took over the phone's operation permissions when he wasn't paying attention and started performing malicious actions such as making transfers and blasting the address book.

The attack method of the virus here is exactly the same as the operation logic of the AI simulating the user's "natural click". As a national - level software, in order to protect users' privacy and property safety from the source, WeChat will surely detect the above - mentioned operations and default that the user's "login environment is abnormal", and then protect the account safety by forcibly logging out or refusing login.

Before the emergence of the nubia M153, there was no such concept in the market of "users actively letting AI take over their mobile phones". So in this misunderstanding caused by data security and the time lag, none of ZTE, Doubao, and WeChat is at fault.

However, on the other hand.

This incident has actually given mobile phone manufacturers a wake - up call. With the popularity of true AI mobile phones, simply launching similar products is no longer enough to stimulate consumers. If any manufacturer can be the first to integrate the industry and introduce corresponding AI - APP operation protocols (such as dividing the liability for AI operation errors with other parties), it will fundamentally gain the right to speak in the next evolutionary direction of mobile phones.

References:

Lei Technology: Doubao's New Product Launched! Are Huawei and Xiaomi in a Bind?

Jiemian News: The "Doubao Mobile Phone" is Logged Out of WeChat, and the Ability of AI Assistants to Invoke APP Permissions Becomes a Key Issue

Daily Economic News: The ZTE Doubao Mobile Phone Priced at 3,499 Yuan is Speculated to 9,999 Yuan! Some Users Report Passive Logouts from WeChat, and WeChat Responds: No Special Actions

Daily Economic News: Doubao's Move is a "Game - Changer", and the 210 - Billion - Yuan Giant Hits the Daily Limit!

IT Home: Industry Insiders: Any Attempt to Operate WeChat by "Simulating Clicks" with Natural Language is a High - Voltage Line and Will Result in Account Freezing

This article is from the WeChat official account "mawen011" (ID: hlw0823), author: Internet Affairs. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.