Huawei unveils vision to create ‘Intelligent Phone’

At CES 2017, Huawei Consumer Business Group’s CEO Richard Yu shared Huawei’s vision of the next frontier in mobile – the Intelligent Phone, an AI-powered device.

Yu also revealed the availability of Huawei Mate 9 in the US and announced that the Mate 9 Pro and the Porsche Design Mate 9 will also be its first Google Daydream-ready smartphones.

During the keynote, Yu pointed to the three pillars the Huawei brand – passion, collective wisdom and meaningful innovation – to explain the company’s success. In 2016, Huawei shipped more than 139 million smartphones, a 29 percent increase over 2015. According to IPSOS, its global brand awareness has also seen steady growth, rising from 76 percent to 81 percent, with a 66.7 percent and 100 percent increase in overseas user consideration and preference.

Through its continued investment in R&D, which surpassed $38 billion over the last 10 years, Huawei will drive the next era of innovation to inspire and empower mankind. As part of this strategy, Huawei aims to leverage the collective wisdom of the world’s brightest minds, both within and outside the company, to help shape the next era of consumer technology. Most recently, Huawei opened the new Max Berek Innovation Lab with Leica, deepening its strategic partnership with the world leader in photography and imaging.

At the event, the Chinese company also highlighted the “next phase in mobile” – the Intelligent Phone. The AI-powered Intelligent Phone, according to the company, will be able to anticipate our needs with new functionality that will truly match the way we think and feel.

In order to bring the Intelligent Phone to life, Yu discussed the design needs of this dynamic, new device which will emulate the human capacity to interact with and understand the world around it. For example, the Intelligent Phone will need advanced computer vision to see and understand its surroundings. It will need more intelligent and developed microphones through which to hear and identify different sounds. It will require advances in power and battery life to process vast amounts of information.

To accelerate the development of the Intelligent Phone, Huawei is working to further develop its sensor technology, machine learning, data management and chipset. By embracing these new advances, Huawei believes the Intelligent Phone will unify digital and human intelligence to make our lives better.

“Currently people connect with the digital world using their smartphones,” said Yu. “In the future, the Intelligent Phone will change all of this. The Intelligent phone will be an extension of who we are – an indispensable part of our lives that uses artificial intelligence to adapt to our needs, allowing us to seamlessly interact with the real and digital worlds.”

In addition, Huawei also announced that they are working in close partnership with a number of other tech companies in the likes of Amazon and Google to accelerate the development of new, innovative technologies and experiences.