The smarter Doubao phone is blocked by two door locks.

The "Doubao Phone" still faces two major barriers before achieving full "AI proxy operation": application authorization and user privacy.

On the afternoon of September 16, Nubia launched and put the NaviX Ultra on the market, with a starting price of 5999 yuan, and the official announced post-national-subsidy starting price is 5499 yuan. This product, widely known as the second-generation Doubao Phone, is equipped with the consumer version of Doubao Mobile Assistant (hereinafter referred to as "Doubao Assistant"), allowing users to use voice commands to get Doubao Assistant to call tools, connect different applications, and complete tasks that previously required manual step-by-step operation.

The first-generation Doubao Phone, the Nubia M153 launched in December 2025, was co-developed by Nubia and ByteDance. It came with a preview version of the assistant technology, priced at 3499 yuan, and was only sold in small batches to developers and tech enthusiasts. Its 30,000 units of inventory were sold out quickly, and the second-hand price was once driven up to more than ten times the original price, even spawning a device rental market.

In terms of AI capabilities, the first-generation model adopted a very straightforward operation method: it let the AI simulate tapping the screen like a human finger to execute cross-application tasks. Since this operation does not rely on the official interfaces of applications, it is recognized as high-risk by some apps. For example, WeChat will pop up a prompt saying "abnormal login environment", Alipay will show "access denied", and banking apps including Agricultural Bank of China and China Construction Bank will suspend login and payment on the grounds of "risky environment".

More than 9 months later, the second-generation model has added a new feature: in addition to simulated tapping, it supports the industry-standard MCP (Model Context Protocol) and A2A (AI Agent Interaction Protocol). As long as application developers proactively open their interfaces, the AI can directly call their capabilities without having to navigate and tap page by page. For scenarios that still require simulated tapping, Doubao has also launched the Screen Automated Operation Declaration Protocol (SAEP), through which applications can declare to allow or reject such operations.

At the launch event, Ni Fei, President of ZTE Mobile Devices Division and President of Nubia, summed up the transformation of AI phones as shifting from "talking by voice" to "getting things done automatically". According to the official data of Nubia, the sales of the new model exceeded 100 million yuan in one second after the spot sale started.

Operate Your Phone on Your Behalf

Regular phones with third-party AI applications such as Doubao installed can already perform question answering, image recognition and content generation, and can also obtain partial operation capabilities through sharing, permissions or interfaces. The assistant embedded in the NaviX Ultra is integrated into the phone system. After user authorization, it can access screen information, call local tools, and coordinate applications to execute tasks. For example, when a user is browsing a product page, they can ask the assistant to continue searching based on the current page, without having to take a screenshot, upload it, and explain what they are seeing. The system integration allows users to skip the step of providing background information to the AI.

In the task execution phase, the consumer version still retains the method of interface recognition and simulated tapping, allowing the assistant to view the screen, find buttons, and complete operations along the original process of applications just like a human user. At the same time, it has expanded service interfaces that can directly call the functions opened by partners, eliminating the need to navigate and tap page by page. The latter execution method is more suitable for the native operation logic of AI, and can effectively solve the risk control triggering problem that existed in the previous generation. However, it requires service providers to access the protocol in advance. The currently announced supported intelligent services include Caocao Mobility and map applications, and Caocao Mobility initially provides services in Beijing, Hangzhou and Suzhou.

In scenarios where only simulated tapping is applicable, the assistant must comply with the operation restrictions of applications. To address this, Doubao introduced the Screen Automated Operation Declaration Protocol (SAEP), under which applications can declare to allow or reject such operations, and can also restrict specific actions such as posting, deletion, and check-in. During the 30-day public notice period, the system, ZTE applications, ByteDance ecosystem applications, and third-party applications that have explicitly agreed to the protocol are open to automated operations, while other applications are not open by default. That means users authorizing the assistant to execute tasks does not equal the applications agreeing to proxy operations; being able to open an application does not mean the assistant can post, place orders or make payments within it.

The value of system integration is even more prominent in the office scenarios of ByteDance's ecosystem. According to the official demonstration, the assistant can consecutively summarize Feishu group messages, check to-do items, forward documents, queue up tasks, and insert new demands during execution. Its recording minutes function is connected to Feishu Minutes, supporting speaker distinction, real-time translation and summary. The work task mode also provides capabilities for code, document, spreadsheet and PPT processing.

Compared with the first-generation model, the NaviX Ultra has added an independent AI key with integrated fingerprint recognition on its body. After identity verification, users can call the assistant even when the phone is locked. The new version also allows tasks to run in the background, so the tasks can continue to be processed even if the phone screen is locked, and users do not need to stay on the page waiting.

Two Major Barriers

A user who has already received the NaviX Ultra does not recommend other users to buy the product for the "AI proxy operation" feature. He found that basic operations such as ordering takeout and replying to work messages on WeChat are always stuck. This is related to the aforementioned SAEP protocol: besides the system and ByteDance ecosystem applications, to allow the assistant to call an application, not only user authorization is required, but also the permission of the application developer. Even if the application developer accepts the protocol, most mainstream applications only support "limited automation", and not all their functions can be called by the assistant.

The first barrier facing the Doubao Phone is the entry barriers set by different manufacturers for their own applications. Under the conventional mobile operation mode, users click the app icon, browse recommended content, view paid search results, place orders and make payments. Every step is under the control of the platform, and every step can be converted into revenue for the platform. If the AI can complete tasks across applications with a single voice command, the platform may lose part of its user retention.

Third-party mobile assistants may bring new order sources to the platforms. For example, users can directly initiate a ride-hailing or food delivery order from their itinerary arrangement, without having to open the corresponding app to search first. But this also means the time users would have spent on the platform is shifted to the assistant, and the user's final decision on which platform to use is partially transferred to the assistant.

"If I have to open the apps manually, it's no different from a regular phone. Why would I buy an AI phone?" The aforementioned user believes that the AI proxy operation of the NaviX Ultra does not reach the advertised convenience level, and at the same price range, it is better to buy a regular flagship phone. The user plans to return the product within the 7-day no-reason return period.

Besides whether service providers are willing to open their capabilities, another unavoidable problem for the Doubao Phone is privacy and security. When the AI is deeply integrated into the system level, users are concerned about the risk of data such as various account information, private communications and photos being uploaded to the cloud.

On September 15, the topic "WeChat AI Privacy" became a trending search. Since the end of June, WeChat has launched a small-scale internal test of its AI assistant Xiaowei. In addition to common intelligent search functions, it can also help users send messages to specified contacts, read and summarize users' chat records and Moments content, which has sparked widespread concerns about privacy and security on social media platforms.

In response to the WeChat AI privacy concerns, a relevant person in charge of WeChat responded that the information Xiaowei can access will not exceed the scope of information that the user themselves can view, and the function of reading chat records adopts the "delete immediately after use" logic.

A consumer who is still waiting to see the performance of the Doubao Phone told The Economic Observer that privacy is her biggest concern. She is worried that personal information will inevitably be leaked for the purpose of model improvement, "it feels like someone is staring at your screen all the time".

Some other users have given positive feedback. One buyer said he can directly ask Doubao Assistant when encountering daily problems, which is more convenient than opening the Doubao App on the phone. The AI incoming call answering feature has helped him get rid of the trouble of receiving marketing calls. However, when taking public transport, Doubao Assistant can directly open the Didi QR code for public transport, but the transport QR codes of WeChat and Alipay are restricted and cannot be opened.

(Researcher Su Sinan from the EO Research Institute also contributed to this article)

This article is from the WeChat official account "The Economic Observer", author: LIU Sixuan, published with authorization from 36Kr.