ByteDance denies plans to build cars but is vying for AI hardware entry points such as smartphones, earphones, and smart glasses.

On January 7th Beijing time, news spread that ByteDance was collaborating with car manufacturers to build cars. However, according to media reports, a relevant person in charge at ByteDance stated that the rumor was untrue, and ByteDance has no plans to build cars.

Although ByteDance has denied building cars, it has already extended its reach into the automotive industry.

First, let's talk about a related A-share target. Seres has shown signs of an upward trend in the past two days, with a cumulative increase of 5.80%. For Seres recently, this is a significant rise.

The rise of Seres may be because on October 9th, 2025, Seres and Volcengine, a subsidiary of ByteDance, signed the "Framework Agreement for Embodied Intelligence Business Cooperation". The two parties focused on the digital and intelligent upgrade needs of the automotive industry ecosystem to create a new model of "technology + scenario" integration.

Even earlier, on September 23rd, ByteDance signed a similar cooperation agreement with Mercedes - Benz. More specifically, it covered five major areas: intelligent cockpit, intelligent assisted driving, intelligent R & D, digital marketing, and customer operation. Similarly, it relied on Volcengine to provide AI, cloud, and big - data capabilities. It's worth mentioning that the cooperation between the two parties started in 2023 when VolcCar was introduced into the Mercedes - Benz intelligent cockpit.

In addition to extending its reach into the automotive industry, ByteDance is also vying for the hardware entry points in AI, including headphones, mobile phones, and the latest glasses.

As early as September 2021, ByteDance spent approximately 9 billion yuan to acquire the XR company PICO. It also acquired some assets of Smartisan Mobile. Even at the end of 2025, news spread that Zhang Yiming said internally that they should continue to make Smartisan Mobile as it wouldn't lose much money each year.

On December 1st, 2025, ByteDance jointly launched a system - level AI mobile phone with ZTE Corporation - the Doubao AI Phone of ZTE Nubia.

This mobile phone was quietly launched on the ZTE Mall but attracted great attention. The number of pre - orders before the sale exceeded 500,000. The first batch of 30,000 units were sold out in 47 minutes. Affected by this news, on the day of the sale, ZTE Corporation's A - shares hit the daily limit, with a market value exceeding 2.1 trillion yuan, and its H - shares rose by more than 13%.

In the second - hand market, this mobile phone, originally priced at 3,499 yuan, was once speculated to over 12,000 yuan. Of course, the price later dropped.

This AI - native mobile phone is an attempt by ByteDance to seize the AI hardware entry point. By cooperating with mobile phone manufacturers, ByteDance provides core technologies such as the Doubao large - scale model, UI - TARS visual understanding, and Cuia Agent intelligent agent, hoping to offer users a different experience.

This mobile phone also shows the world the exploration of AI applications by Chinese enterprises. It is the world's first real - sense AI mobile phone. Public reports indicate that ByteDance is in contact with mobile phone manufacturers, hoping to cooperate in launching AI mobile phones. However, this is destined to be a difficult path. Because AI - native mobile phones break the existing interest pattern of mobile phone manufacturers, which may also be the reason why Zhang Yiming said they should continue to make Smartisan Mobile.

Unverified news shows that the Doubao AI Phone was actually developed by ByteDance itself, but due to pressure, it had to claim it was a joint R & D. This is because ByteDance's apps still rely on the existing mobile phone user base and pre - installed apps on mobile phones to acquire new users. However, the growth of ByteDance's users has basically reached its peak.

In addition to the AI mobile phone, ByteDance previously launched AI headphones and is now exploring the launch of AI headphones with cameras, which is also an innovative direction in the current headphone field, essentially aiming at better perception and interaction.

What's even more anticipated may be the AI glasses that ByteDance is about to launch.

Current news indicates that these AI glasses will use the Qualcomm AR1 chip. Since the BES2800 requires an external ISP chip, Runxin Technology will provide hardware support. The glasses will weigh less than 50g, and there will be a version with a camera. There are 100,000 units for testing purposes, meaning they will not be sold publicly. It is unknown whether the second - generation glasses will be sold publicly.

ByteDance's AI glasses need to be used in conjunction with the Doubao app, forming a small ecosystem with headphones and other devices.

In a way, ByteDance is using hardware such as headphones and glasses to capture users' time.

Zhu Mingming, the founder of Rokid, said that he hopes to attract users' fragmented time from mobile phone users with AI glasses.

ByteDance's greatest reliance is that its apps occupy users' time. The rise of AI hardware will inevitably take away users' time. This is a battle that ByteDance cannot afford to lose.

OpenAI, the world's most highly valued AI company, is making various commercialization attempts, including AI hardware. According to supply - chain news, OpenAI's first hardware product will be a pen, which is unexpected. Is it targeting the market of users who still use pens, or is it trying to cultivate users' habit of using pens?

Think about it, who uses pens frequently? Apart from students.

Perhaps, OpenAI is aiming to capture the native users of the Internet.

Everyone is competing for users, using different methods but all aiming to achieve commercialization by capturing users' time.

As for which hardware these AI giants will venture into, it will definitely vary. But it's certain that all hardware will be reinvented by AI, and many new hardware directions will emerge, which is quite clear from CES 2026.

As a company with a large user base and abundant funds, ByteDance's exploration in AI is worthy of attention to discover investment opportunities.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Automotive Intelligence" (ID: invehc), author: Michael Yuan, published by 36Kr with authorization.