Not surprisingly, the wave of AI large models has swept into the field of smartphones. Smartphone manufacturers are rushing to develop AI large models themselves or join forces with AI large model manufacturers to tap the huge potential of the integrated development of smartphones and AI large models.
On October 26, Honor CEO Zhao Ming officially announced some information about the new phone Honor Magic 6. He said that the new phone will be equipped with the new Snapdragon 8Gen3 and Honor’s self-developed 7B end-side AI large model (7B refers to the 7 billion parameter scale).
On October 16, vivo officially announced that it will release a matrix of self-developed AI large models, including 5 self-developed large models with three different parameter levels: billion, tens of billions, and hundreds of billions, fully covering core application scenarios. These large models It will be used for the first time in vivo’s new operating system OriginOS 4.
On October 11, OPPO announced that the new Xiaobu Assistant 1.0 Beta version based on its self-trained Andes GPT model was officially launched. The upgraded Xiaobu Assistant will have AI large model capabilities.
Earlier, Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun announced that Xiaomi fully embraces AI large models, and said that the current large models on the mobile phone side have been initially run through. Xiao Ai has also upgraded the AI large models and started invitation testing. Similarly, Huawei announced that its mobile phone system will be connected to the Pangu model, launched public testing of its voice assistant Xiaoyi with a built-in model, and also released a new Huawei Mate60 series with a built-in AI model.
It is foreseeable that large-model mobile phones will become more and more popular in the future and become the mainstream trend in the mobile phone market.
Large model manufacturers dance with mobile phone manufacturers
Changes in user needs, support from technological progress, and pressure from market competition all urge mobile phone manufacturers to develop large-model mobile phones, and large-model manufacturers also intend to expand into more industries and realize the implementation of large-scale industry models.
For AI large model manufacturers, moving from general large models to industry large models is the only way to implement technology. Because general large models have wide applicability but lack industry depth and can hardly provide high-value services in vertical fields, large model manufacturers are actively engaged in hardware fields such as smartphones and intelligent learning machines.
First, the training and inference process of a general-purpose large model is very resource-intensive and will generate huge operating costs. However, large models used for intelligent hardware have fewer model parameters, and the costs of training, debugging, optimization, and implementation are lower. Secondly, large model manufacturers provide end-to-end solutions, including hardware, software and algorithms, which will make it easier for customers to use and deploy AI models; thirdly, entering the field of intelligent hardware can help large AI model manufacturers expand their markets share and increase competitive advantage.
For mobile phone manufacturers, there is a lack of innovation in mobile phone products and the entire industry chain has experienced a major decline. Embracing large model technology can enhance the image recognition and processing capabilities of mobile phones, strengthen voice interaction capabilities, support auxiliary functions and intelligent assistance, thereby improving user experience. Improve enterprise competitiveness.
AI large models show highly accurate and extensive generalization capabilities in natural language processing, image recognition, and speech recognition. Integrating into mobile phone systems can enhance mobile phone performance. With the evolution of AI algorithms, large model mobile phones can be based on user data. Analyze and provide personalized services to achieve "thousands of people, thousands of machines".
On the one hand, large AI model manufacturers are actively advancing into the hardware field (smartphones, intelligent learning machines) to meet people's growing intelligent needs. On the other hand, smartphone manufacturers are stepping up their embrace of large AI models to improve mobile phone performance and enhance differentiation. With the joint efforts of both large model manufacturers and mobile phone manufacturers, the exploration of large model mobile phones has gradually advanced from the technology research and development stage to the application and industrial layout stage.
In short, the consensus of mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi is to bring large models to mobile phones, but each has its own ideas on strategic layout and implementation path, and the progress of R&D and production is also different. This "new war" for large model mobile phones is a bit Watch.
Huawei "takes the lead"
While other mobile phone manufacturers were still exploring ways to implement large-scale models, Huawei released large-model mobile phones early, taking the lead in entering the "large-model mobile phone era."
Huawei is able to quickly and orderly develop and produce large-model mobile phones, thanks to its long-term strategic vision, strong R&D team, efficient production process, excellent project management, and continuous innovation and iteration. These factors support each other, making Huawei Able to maintain a leading position in market competition.
In terms of technology,Huawei's high-end mobile phone technology and AI large model technology are "two-pronged" to provide technical support for the research and development of large model mobile phones. In terms of mobile phone manufacturing technology, the localization rate of Huawei’s self-developed technologies such as mobile phone chips and mobile phone systems exceeds 90%. The Huawei Mate60 series is an external manifestation of its strong technical strength.
In terms of large models,Huawei’s Pangu large model includes Pangu NLP large model, CV large model, multi-modal large model and scientific computing large model. It has to be said that Huawei's large-model mobile phones are getting louder and louder, which is related to its close attention to emerging technologies and continuous investment in mastering these new technologies and making adjustments according to market demand.
From the HarmonyOS 4 system being fully integrated into the Pangu model, becoming the world's first mobile terminal operating system with embedded AI large model capabilities, to the flagship mobile phone having a "smart image search" function based on multi-modal large model technology, Huawei has been on the road to success. On the road to technological innovation.
In terms of products,Huawei is the first domestic mobile phone manufacturer to integrate large-scale model capabilities into a smart assistant (Huawei Xiaoyi) and launch it for consumers. Huawei Xiaoyi integrates Pangu natural language large model, Pangu visual large model and Pangu multi-modal large model. The highest version has up to 100 billion parameters. It started public testing in September this year. The first supported models are Mate 60 series mobile phones.
Since then, at Huawei’s autumn full-scenario new product launch conference, Yu Chengdong also revealed: “More than a month after its release, Hongmeng 4.0 with large model support has been upgraded by more than 60 million users, making it the fastest upgraded Hongmeng operating system version in history. "
Technical and product capabilities are important resources for the development of large model mobile phones. In terms of smartphone technology and large model technology, Huawei has profound technical accumulation and strength and can provide large models with excellent performance by integrating advanced intelligent technology and hardware products. mobile phones to enhance its competitive advantage in the field of large-model mobile phones.
Of course, the label of "domestic product" is also one of the reasons why Huawei's large-model mobile phones can be quickly accepted and recognized by consumers. A good brand image can build consumers' trust in Huawei's products and services, distinguish it from other "friends", and attract more consumers, helping its market share to "lead Yaoyao".
Xiaomi "gradual"
Like Huawei, Xiaomi is also on the road to entering large-model mobile phones. Although its progress in the deployment of large-model smartphone terminals is not fast, it is aggressive and has achieved some results.
It is understood that Xiaomi’s self-developed 1.3 billion parameter end-side model has run through the demo on the mobile phone, and some scene effects are comparable to the computing effect of the 6 billion model in the cloud. In addition, at the data level, the proportion of training data mined and compiled by Xiaomi has reached 80%, of which the amount of Xiaomi’s own product and business data reaches 3TB.
On October 26, at Xiaomi's ThePaper OS and Xiaomi 14 series new product launch conference, Lei Jun also announced: "Xiaomi's group strategy will be upgraded from "mobile phone People are the center, organically integrating the entire ecology of people, cars and families, and the key to undertaking the new strategy is Xiaomi's ThePaper OS."
It should be noted that Xiaomi's ThePaper OS is one of the largest-scale bottom-level reconstruction operating systems in history, and has also been deeply embedded in large AI models. This enables Xiaoai Input Assistant to have the text creation capabilities of AI large models and AI image expansion capabilities. These functions are all reflected in the Xiaomi 14 series of mobile phones.
So far, Xiaomi has achieved a staged victory in its exploration of the field of large models, and also revealed its attitude of "attacking" large models.
On the one hand, Xiaomi announced its full embrace of large models, not only actively building an AI large model team, but also continuing to invest in large-scale research and development. Such a high emphasis on talent reserves and technology investment will help improve Xiaomi's innovation capabilities, technological leadership, reduce risks, and also provide guarantee for its progress in the field of large models.
In April, Xiaomi officially established an AI laboratory large model team, with more than 1,200 people related to the AI field, and the team leader is Luan Jian, head of the AI laboratory large model team of Xiaomi Technical Committee. Prior to this, Xiaomi's AI-related team had established AI technology capabilities such as vision, speech, acoustics, knowledge graphs, NLP, machine learning, and multi-modality.
In terms of R&D investment, Xiaomi adheres to "technology-based" and spares no effort to "spend money" to achieve technological innovation. Financial report data shows that Xiaomi’s R&D investment in 2022 will be 16.2 billion yuan, and this year’s R&D investment is expected to exceed 20 billion yuan. In the next five years, Xiaomi expects total R&D investment to exceed 100 billion yuan.
On the other hand, Xiaomi has a clear research and development direction, focusing on the "lightweight" and "local deployment" of large model technology, striving to combine software and hardware, and ecological connection, pursuing differentiation of mobile phone large model solutions, and creating unique product advantages.
As we all know, from the perspective of multi-tasking requirements, network speed and cloud computing development, changes in the application ecosystem, user needs and market trends, "device-cloud integration" for large-model mobile phones is the general trend. It involves user experience and user privacy, and is The key points for smartphone manufacturers to lay out the field of large-model mobile phones.
In this regard, Xiaomi chose to combine the end and the cloud, with the end as the main cloud as the supplement. It deploys large models to the end-side information without uploading it to the cloud. All calculations are performed locally, which fundamentally ensures that user privacy is not leaked; in addition, Xiaomi passed Adjust the model structure and parameter size to adapt to the memory and computing power characteristics of various chips to achieve the best integration of large models and hardware products.
All in all, the new competitive landscape forces Xiaomi to strengthen its differentiated approach in terms of products and technologies, in order to gain a larger market share in large-model mobile phones surrounded by powerful enemies.
Hitting the next growth plateau
Judging from the current market situation, it is an indisputable fact that the smartphone market is weak. According to statistics from Chaodian Think Tank, the total sales volume of the world's top 20 best-selling mobile phones in Q2 2023 was 145 million units, a decrease of 7.6% compared with 157 million units in Q2 2022. Overall, the smartphone market will continue to decline in 2023.
The smartphone market continues to be sluggish. Industrial innovation has become the key to breakthroughs, and large-scale model technology may be the "rejuvenation pill."
First of all, the rapid development of AI large model technology is expected to promote the continuous improvement of mobile phone functions and performance and attract a new generation of consumers to switch phones. Empowered by AI large model technology, the smart assistant is more powerful and intelligent, making the camera of the mobile phone have strong image recognition capabilities, making the camera of the mobile phone have strong image recognition capabilities...
Secondly, smartphone manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi are actively integrating large AI models into product functions or production, which is of great significance in driving the development of the smartphone industry.
Large-model mobile phones can not only bring better experience and convenience to users, but also improve product performance and efficiency. They can also create business opportunities and competitive advantages for smartphone manufacturers. However, most players are still in the research and development stage, and there are not many large-model mobile phone products that are actually mass-produced. In the future, smartphone manufacturers will still face many problems that need to be continuously solved.
Furthermore, the development of AI large model technology is still in its infancy, and large model mobile phones still have a lot of room for innovation in the future. With the advancement of AI large model technology, the value of smartphones is expected to be redefined, and we may see the emergence of more advanced and smarter smartphones, thereby stimulating market vitality and accelerating the recovery pace of the consumer smartphone industry.
There are various signs that large-model mobile phones are the next highland for industry growth, which has triggered a new round of technology competition among smartphone manufacturers. In the future, more smartphone manufacturers will compete to launch more innovative and functional products to meet user needs. While leading the development of smartphone technology, they will also select a group of winners with strong technical strength and innovation capabilities.