The second-generation Doubao AI smartphone is expected to launch in the second quarter of this year, according to tech bloggers, as ByteDance deepens its push into system-level AI on mobile devices. The device continues ByteDance’s partnership with ZTE’s Nubia brand and will focus on system-level AI and cross-application autonomous operations, aiming to enable a new interaction model in which AI performs tasks on behalf of users, sources said. Two of China’s top five smartphone makers have begun talks with the Doubao team, with potential collaborations likely to center on deep system integration, the bloggers said.
An earlier prototype faced restrictions from major apps due to permission issues. For the second-generation model, ByteDance has reached partial agreements with Alibaba-affiliated platforms to open permissions in certain scenarios, though it remains unclear whether it can overcome barriers from dominant ecosystems such as WeChat. [TechNode reporting]