ByteDance's "Doubao Phone" has just gone on sale, and the progress of Geely's project has also been revealed: A 200-person team was assembled in the first month, poaching talents from Huawei, Xiaomi, and Honor.
ByteDance and ZTE have just announced their cooperation on AI phones, and the first - generation products are already on the shelves, priced at 3,499 yuan.
Its biggest selling point is the integration of ByteDance's self - developed large - model Agent service. ByteDance told Yicai that the technical preview version of Doubao Mobile Assistant installed on it is an AI assistant software resulting from the cooperation between ByteDance and mobile phone manufacturers at the operating system level based on the Doubao APP.
Meanwhile, Doubao claims that it has no plan to manufacture mobile phones.
It's obvious that ByteDance's purpose in playing this card is not the AI phone itself, but the AIOS track on the software side at the underlying level.
Almost at the same time, QbitAI noticed a low - key rookie betting on AIOS, which has gradually come into the public view.
This company, founded in August this year, is called Zhiyue Qianli.
Closely related to Geely Group
Business registration information shows that the directors of the company are Dong Huan and Hao Jianguo.
Among them, Hao Jianguo is also the legal representative of Zhiyue Qianli.
On August 11 this year, Hao Jianguo invested in Zhiyue Qianli with an investment ratio of 50%; he has served as the legal representative of Zhiyue Qianli since the next day.
Half a month before investing in Zhiyue Qianli, Hao Jianguo made a new external investment in Wuhan Xinghe Shengjing Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd., whose director is Su Jing, the former CEO of Xingji Meizu Group.
In July 2022, Geely made a strategic investment and took control of Meizu Technology through its subsidiary; in March 2023, Xingji Meizu Group, formed by the integration of Xingji Times and Meizu Technology, was officially established, aiming to explore the in - depth integration of consumer electronics and smart cars.
Meizu's software capabilities gave birth to the Flyme Auto in - vehicle human - machine interaction software, which is installed in Geely's Lynk & Co 08 model.
At the beginning of 2022, Su Jing participated in the establishment of Xingji Times as a co - founder and served as the CFO; in March 2023, when Xingji Meizu was established, Su Jing served as the co - founder, executive director, and CFO; since May 2024, Su Jing has served as the CEO of Xingji Meizu; in June this year, Su Jing left the company.
In September, it was reported that Su Jing started overseas entrepreneurship, releasing three products in Berlin: a micro - electric vehicle, a companion robot, and smart glasses.
In addition, Hao Jianguo is also a shareholder of Hubei Xingtu Times Management Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership), with a shareholding ratio of 13.0853%. The executive general partner of this enterprise is Shanghai Yili Technology Development Center, and the investor is Shen Ziyu, who holds 100% of the shares.
Shen Ziyu was the previous CEO of Xingji Meizu Group and is one of the core figures in Geely Group's intelligent transformation.
He not only helped Geely build a complete technology chain from chips, systems to ecosystems but also directly handled the integration of Meizu and the automotive business and was deeply involved in building Geely's ecological layout in the fields of smart cockpits, chips, and mobile phones.
After stepping down as the CEO of Xingji Meizu Group, Shen Ziyu's work focus has become more concentrated on the development of the Polestar brand in the Chinese market and the global business expansion of ECARX Technology (a company jointly founded by Li Shufu and Shen Ziyu).
Moreover, Geely's decision - makers have shown a particular preference for the word 'Qianli' this year. There is another AI for Car company associated with this name.
Zhiyue Qianli, on the other hand, focuses on AI for Phone and AI for Terminal.
Nearly 200 employees in the month of establishment
According to available information, Zhiyue Qianli positions itself as a technology company focusing on the next - generation AI terminal ecosystem and interaction methods, with the slogan of "Reinventing human - machine interaction and building the ecological foundation for the AI terminal era".
Different from ByteDance's approach - QbitAI has learned that Zhiyue Qianli plans to develop large AI models, AI Agents, and AIOS, as well as hardware products.
More than one insider has told us that the hardware products that this company will research, develop, and design include but are not limited to mobile phones and XR glasses.
ChatGPT AI - generated image
Recruitment information shows that Zhiyue Qianli is recruiting talents in areas such as human - machine interaction, ID design, user research, and PDT project management, indicating that it is promoting a complete end - to - end product development process; at the same time, it is also systematically building AIOS - related capabilities.
At the hardware level, the job information released by Zhiyue Qianli shows that it is simultaneously promoting various aspects, from overall machine development, battery and structure design, display and material selection, to device debugging, architecture simulation, and project management.
This layout seems to suggest that it intends to complete a whole set of hardware products independently, rather than relying on outsourcing or module integration.
Of course, whether it ultimately has the full - link leading ability remains to be seen from the actual performance after the launch of the first product.
Currently, Zhiyue Qianli has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.
This company has recruited employees at an unexpectedly fast pace: it was founded in August and already had about 200 employees in the same month.
This speed and appeal must be related to the strength of its behind - the - scenes team in large - model and hardware fields. We've learned that employees from mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Honor, and Meizu have been poached to this company one after another.
AI terminals are not just 'mobile phones'
In summary, by piecing together these clues, it's possible to draw a relatively clear conclusion from an external perspective:
This company's real goal is to build a terminal system for the AI era.
This is in line with the current trend.
After the era of "edge - side AI", the relationship between AI and terminals is undergoing a deeper level of integration.
AI terminals are becoming a new industry keyword.
Its boundaries are not limited to hardware devices themselves but cover large models, operating systems, product forms combining software and hardware, as well as new interaction models and service closed - loops built around users.
These AI - native terminals naturally have higher degrees of freedom and compatibility. At the market level, they are also breaking the existing product definitions and competition logic.
According to QuestMobile data, consumer - grade AI terminals have begun to form an intelligent closed - loop on the user side, and AI phones, AI PCs, and AI tablets are gradually becoming key entry points connecting model capabilities and real - life scenarios.
In this trend, AI terminals will obviously not be limited to wearables or "hand - held screens".
Extending to a broader scenario, it is also likely to appear inside smart cars, becoming the central system for in - car human - machine collaboration, or rather, the default entry point for in - car intelligent experiences. In fact, the integration direction of "AI terminals + smart cockpits" has become a widespread consensus in the current smart car industry.
So, the integration of software and hardware in the AI era seems to ultimately return to the strategies that both Huawei and Xiaomi are implementing and discussing.
Huawei is involved in mobile phones, cars, and home AIOT...
Lei Jun has said bluntly: It's about the entire ecosystem of people, cars, and homes.
Now, ByteDance has entered the arena, and Geely has also made its layout. The entire AI terminal field is about to get lively.
This article is from the WeChat official account "QbitAI" (ID: QbitAI), written by Heng Yu, and published by 36Kr with authorization.