After conceding defeat to the large models, an AI veteran created a "magnetic money - printing machine".

Abstract:

Despite being touted as the "world's first Agentic AI (agent) hardware," TicNote is almost identical to another existing product, the Plaud Note which supports 112 languages, in terms of its form, functions, and usage methods of the card recorder.

The story of the so - called "Chinese version of OpenAI" has suddenly taken a major turn.

On June 25th, Mobvoi, the first AIGC - related company listed on the Hong Kong stock market, held a press conference in Beijing and launched the "world's first Agentic AI (agent AI) hardware" - the intelligent recording product TicNote. Prior to this, on April 17th, this product had already made its debut in overseas markets.

During the wave of large - model development that started in 2022, Mobvoi and its founder, Li Zhifei, were once at the forefront and regarded as promising candidates with technical reserves and forward - looking vision. Li Zhifei was once a scientist at Google's headquarters and is a well - recognized veteran in the AI field. Mobvoi also became one of the star teams that first entered the research and development of underlying large models in early 2023.

However, at the press conference in June, Li Zhifei admitted his setbacks: "Large models are not something we can afford to play with." Next, he will lead Mobvoi back to the hardware market where they are more familiar.

Phoenix Tech noticed that currently, TicNote is the only product in Mobvoi's Taobao and JD.com flagship stores.

Telling an AI - native story but doing business based on information asymmetry

According to Mobvoi's official information, TicNote integrates various functions such as over 120 - language transcription and translation, AI summarization, mind mapping, in - depth AI research and thinking, high - definition AI recording with noise reduction, multi - terminal synchronization for project management, AI podcasts, inspiration capture, and cross - file search. It can also support over 20 hours of recording battery life.

The realization of intelligent functions is due to the built - in AI Agent "Shadow AI" independently developed by Mobvoi in TicNote. In the overseas version, Shadow AI is also connected to third - party models such as GPT - 4o, GPT - 4o mini, and DeepSeekR1.

In terms of form design, different from the common recording pens, recording microphones, and recording headphones in the current market, TicNote is a hardware product with a thickness of only 3 millimeters and the size of a bank card, which can be magnetically attached to a mobile phone for use. This is also the most eye - catching feature.

On social media platforms, it can be seen that consumer groups such as overseas students have already purchased this new hardware product for use in scenarios like taking class notes.

However, "uncommon" does not mean unique. Despite being called the "world's first Agentic AI (agent) hardware," TicNote is almost identical to the Plaud Note in terms of the form, functions, and usage methods of the card recorder. The latter was launched in April 2024 and is mainly sold in overseas markets.

Even the price of TicNote is almost the same as that of Plaud Note: The overseas version of TicNote is priced at $159.99. The domestic Yuexiang version of TicNote is priced at 999 yuan, and the Zhenxuan version is priced at 1499 yuan. In contrast, Plaud Note is mainly sold in overseas markets and is priced at $159.

In a market unfamiliar to domestic users, Plaud has proven the viability of the business opportunity of card - style AI recorders. According to Z Potentials, as of November 2024, Plaud.AI's annualized revenue had reached $100 million, and the company's valuation exceeded $1 billion. In May this year, Xu Gao, the founder of PlaudAI, also revealed to Time magazine that by then, nearly 700,000 devices had been shipped to global users. It can be seen that the monetization potential of such AI hardware is considerable.

Plaud has not officially entered the Chinese mainland market, and the concept of card - style intelligent recorders is still very new to most users. From this perspective, TicNote has taken advantage of a clever information asymmetry.

At the press conference, Li Zhifei also did not avoid mentioning Plaud. He said that Mobvoi "tends to find hardware forms that have been verified in the market and are relatively mature" and focuses on the development of AI software to compete with software.

In addition, he shared that TicNote is a product built based on the methodology of "how to embed AI capabilities into user scenarios" and is a hardware entry point that provides a "digital clone" - style assistant experience. To illustrate this product methodology, Li Zhifei also demonstrated on - site a Feishu - like software he built in just two days with the help of AI.

However, before users vote with their feet, TicNote will inevitably be involved in point - to - point function comparisons and competitions with Plaud Note and similar products, and will also face the problem of "how to define differentiation."

A single innovation in hardware form cannot form a barrier. After the overseas success of Plaud Note, many products replicating Plaud have appeared on the market. For example, 360 will also release the AI intelligent recording hardware "Nano AINote," and various white - label products are also common.

A user of Plaud Note told Phoenix Tech that the biggest pain point of Plaud Note is that it currently cannot perform real - time transcription but only post - event transcription. In addition, it also has the problem of being unable to record in the headphone scenario. The same problems also exist in TicNote.

Besides functions, price competition has also begun.

Phoenix Tech contacted two white - label card AI recorder merchants on Xiaohongshu and Taobao respectively. Both products are priced at less than 300 yuan. One of the merchants said that the product they sell can "replicate Plaud Note one - to - one," "use the same mold," and "perform intelligent summarization and mind mapping without problems."

Avoiding the competition from big companies, Mobvoi sets its sights on a small card

Objectively speaking, intelligent recording is not new to Mobvoi. As a domestic AI startup founded in 2012 with the initial goal of becoming the "Chinese version of Siri," Mobvoi has already tried functional products for intelligent recording.

For example, the TicWatch Pro 3, an intelligent watch launched overseas in 2020, is equipped with an AI recording pen function and can provide 24 - hour recording storage. Combined with a mobile phone, it can perform more functions such as voice - to - text conversion.

At the press conference, Li Zhifei also revealed that TicNote is just the first product. In the future, Mobvoi will also release a new product series equipped with Shadow AI, including TicNote Watch, TicNote Pods, and TicSports. This is also regarded as a way for Mobvoi to break the deadlock in the highly competitive AIGC market where big companies are involved.

According to Titanium Media, Li Zhifei took drones and sweeping robots as examples to explain the thinking behind TicNote's return to the hardware track: "I think we need to avoid competing with giants. As long as you reach a certain level and become unbeatable by giants in a certain field, you can still compete with them. For example, companies in vertical fields such as drones and sweeping robots are the kings in their fields."

Previously, due to competition from large domestic mobile phone companies, Mobvoi's hardware products such as intelligent watches were mainly sold overseas. In the domestic market, Mobvoi maintained the operation of AIGC - related software applications such as the dubbing software "Moyin Gongfang" and the digital human service "Qimiao Yuan."

If the sales of TicNote are optimistic, it may become an entry point for Mobvoi to re - enter the domestic hardware market.

On the other hand, Mobvoi's heavy investment in hardware reflects its setbacks in the basic large - model market. Li Zhifei said at the scene: "In the era of large models, I was one of the first to say that we should develop large models. But later, I basically didn't fully commit to it because I didn't know how to participate."

He admitted frankly: "Only a few giants in the world can develop large models. To be honest, large models are not something we can afford to play with."

This is also reflected in its business performance. After being labeled as a self - developed large - model company with "Sequential Monkey" in 2023, Mobvoi knocked on the door of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and became the first AIGC - related listed company.

Since then, although the revenue share of the AIGC business has increased, reaching 56.8% ($222 million) in 2024, its overall performance is not optimistic. Specifically, Mobvoi's revenue in 2024 was 390 million yuan, a 23% year - on - year decrease compared to 508 million yuan in the previous year; the net profit attributable to the parent company was a loss of approximately 722 million yuan, a 10.11% year - on - year decrease.

Compared with the war of attrition in basic model research and development, which requires comprehensive investment in funds and talents, the rise of the Agent concept has given Mobvoi an opportunity to tell a new story. However, it is still unknown whether the market will buy it.

As an intelligent hardware industry practitioner in Suzhou told Phoenix Tech: "The recording hardware market is indeed a market where big companies are less likely to spare the effort to 'attack other participants in a dimensionality - reducing way.' But the problem is that a single user will probably only buy one recording product. Apart from form innovation, currently, every participant provides similar services. I haven't seen any manufacturer with a unique advantage."

Phoenix Tech noticed that there are many players in the domestic intelligent recording product market currently. In addition to hardware manufacturers such as Philips, Timekettle, iFlytek, and DJI, software services such as Tongyi and Feishu Miaoji are also constantly iterating their intelligent recording services.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Phoenix Tech", author: Xu Zhen. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.