Competition is not about who tells the best stories or who is the loudest; it’s about who can make the best products.
Since the Industrial Revolution, technology has always been regarded as the primary productive force. In “The Wave at the Peak,” former Google scientist Wu Jun pointed out that companies that have risen over the past century are all trendsetters of their times. Sometimes they can drift along with the waves for a decade without doing anything. Meanwhile, the ebbing tide also signifies a company’s decline. To maintain a leading position, one must find the direction of the next rising tide.
Technological trends are constantly changing, and even the giants cannot rest easy at the peak of the waves. Especially in advanced manufacturing, companies invest billions each year in R&D to maintain their lead. This ultimately results in smartphones with over 1,000 components, chips that are only the size of a fingertip yet contain over 20 billion transistors, and 1-inch lenses that exceed the size of digital camera sensors. Seventeen years after the birth of the smartphone, this wave of technology seems to have reached a bottleneck; where will it roll next?
As external voices criticize smartphones for “losing innovation,” resilient Chinese brands choose to move forward, demonstrating through practical results that fast charging, performance scores, and pixel wars are not the only choices in this winter. On this new path, breakthroughs in underlying technologies such as satellite communication, AIGC, self-developed chips, and foldable screens sketch a new trajectory for product evolution.
Not only following the trend, smartphones, under the support of new technologies, attempt to break free from the constraints of gravity, unshackling productivity and becoming a bridge connecting the world. As the gears of fate begin to turn, the technological path of smartphones has not yet hit the ceiling; instead, it has become a more imaginative racecourse. Meanwhile, players at the top of the waves are still trying to disrupt the era with technology, breaking the stereotype of smartphones being stuck in micro-innovation.
Breaking Through the “Last Mile” to Become the Entry Ticket for the Second Half of Smartphone Competition
When we talk about new technologies in smartphones, what are we referring to? Looking back at 2023, perhaps the most impressive product innovation is the groundbreaking satellite communication.
When we talk about new technologies in smartphones, what are we referring to? Looking back at 2023, perhaps the most impressive product innovation is the groundbreaking satellite communication.
When we think we live in a world of extreme communication convenience, billions of digital “remnants” still exist globally. According to statistics from the International Telecommunication Union, as of 2023, about one-third of the global population (approximately 2.6 billion people) remains unconnected to the internet. In remote deserts, primitive forests, and distant seas, cumbersome satellite phones are still the core means of communication. Many tragedies that occur during travels in areas with no signal are also caused by being unable to seek help after “losing contact.”
Being able to make calls and connect to the internet from any corner of the Earth has always been the dream of smartphone manufacturers. In 1990, Motorola began building a global mobile communication system called the “Iridium Project,” hoping to use 66 low-Earth orbit satellites to provide satellite phone, paging, and data services to users anywhere on Earth. This project ultimately stalled due to enormous costs and was dissolved after only six months of operation in 1999.
Until late August 2023, Huawei launched the Mate 60 Pro, becoming the world’s first mass-market smartphone supporting satellite calls, making “satellite intercom” on mobile phones possible. To ensure stable signal connection between the phone and the satellite, the Mate 60 Pro enforces hands-free calling to avoid signal loss caused by holding the phone to the ear.
In September, “Starlink” expanded network connectivity for vehicles, ships, and aircraft, with Musk showcasing it on a private jet, using satellite internet to complete a video speech at a summit. “This experience is just like being online at home or on a plane,” which costs $150,000. Although the cost remains high, the first step in the commercialization of satellite internet is already exciting enough.
After completing the 0-1 stage, how to make satellite communication more accessible to the public has become a new challenge for tech companies. The “last mile” of satellite communication lies in usability and cost. Signal quality is the core of satellite communication, and its quality and strength directly affect communication effectiveness. Therefore, enhancing signal strength during communication to make it suitable for more scenarios is crucial.
In 2024, OPPO will make a new attempt. On the upcoming Find X7 Ultra satellite communication version, dual-mode satellite communication will be realized, allowing users to freely use either handset or hands-free mode without being restricted by usage methods. To achieve this, OPPO has developed satellite antenna directional diagram control technology, which can dynamically adjust the radiation pattern of the satellite antenna, ensuring that the antenna beam dynamically aligns with the satellite, allowing users to maintain call status in both handset and hands-free modes.
For users, handset calling may seem like just a functional upgrade, but its importance cannot be underestimated in emergencies. Holding the phone to the ear is a subconscious reaction for many. However, when dialing for help in outdoor adventures or disaster sites, satellite calls that do not support handset mode may disconnect due to human interference with the signal, leading to a loss of contact with the outside world. Even a brief interruption of just a few seconds can have serious consequences.
When OPPO breaks the constraints, satellite communication technology will enter a new upgrade and accelerate the popularization of this function. This year, this function, which users feel “can be unnecessary but cannot be missing,” may become the “entry ticket” for the second half of smartphone competition. Mastering the technological initiative at this point is crucial for winning the first battle of 2024. By continuously improving cost-effectiveness and enhancing technology levels, this forward development can significantly promote the popularization of China’s satellite communication industry.
Technological innovation can also solve many “last mile” issues like communication. For example, in the increasingly popular international travel scene, there are still many inconveniences caused by information gaps. In the past, users generally relied on social platforms to create travel plans, having to search for destinations sequentially and compile information based on content released by various travel bloggers, making pre-trip planning repetitive and cumbersome. Many “J people” plan their itineraries down to the minute and start planning months in advance.
But if, in a foreign land, services could find people rather than people finding services, everything would be much simpler. Smartphones can automatically connect to local network signals, allowing users to quickly understand the local popular dining, entertainment, accommodation, and travel services, smoothing out the information gaps across different regions, achieving a travel experience that is “authentically local” upon arrival. This “smooth travel abroad” experience comes from OPPO’s “International Carefree Travel” comprehensive service.
Combining Pantanal’s ubiquitous service capabilities, OPPO has bridged the “last mile” of intelligent services, allowing desktop service cards to provide smart, responsive travel prompts, enabling high-end users to easily complete their CityWalks at any time and place. The underlying logic of solving micro-innovation in the smartphone field is to return products to the real needs of users, genuinely helping users resolve confusion in practical usage scenarios. When technology continues to create beauty, it is always rooted in the attention to “people.”
Accessing the Fast Lane of Technology, Welcoming the “Competition Point” of Large Models
Beyond communication technology, the technology that has set the world ablaze in 2023 is undoubtedly large models. The emergence of generative AI applications like ChatGPT has officially unshackled productivity, revealing the potential for technological leaps. How can such advanced potential technology achieve deep integration with smartphones?
The potential of AI large models is undeniable; they will have a disruptive impact on the interaction modes and service provision methods of various intelligent devices, and the smartphone industry will inevitably be caught up in this competition of large models. For major manufacturers, this is a key battle concerning future development, and it is a tough fight they cannot afford to lose.
For smartphones, the imaginative space of AIGC technology is vast. It will bring another killer application (from 5G to 6G), following the transition from WeChat to SMS (3G to 4G) and from short videos to long videos (4G to 5G), and it will be the dawn of technology that aids smartphones in achieving leapfrog innovation.
Smartphone manufacturers, boasting hundreds of millions of terminal users, are natural entry points for large models, and they can accelerate the popularization of large models through their vast user base.
For smartphones, large models can greatly improve terminal interaction experiences, enabling “natural conversations” with users through voice assistants. At the same time, the creativity of large models can assist users in completing creative work. Ordinary tasks like copy generation and table creation can be confidently entrusted to smartphones. Additionally, leveraging the comprehension ability of large models, smartphones can provide personalized services tailored to individual users, undergoing a transformation that becomes more familiar with each use.
How will this new technology be implemented? The answer is edge-side large models. General large models are typically deployed in the cloud, existing as web pages or single applications, making it impossible to fully embed them in smartphones and posing privacy threats from the cloud. By the end of 2023, major smartphone manufacturers have begun to unveil their self-developed large models.
Huawei has chosen to focus on industrial scenarios, launching the Pangu large model. Xiaomi emphasizes lightweight and local deployment, releasing the Xiaomi MiLM-6B centered around “Xiao Ai.” Vivo’s Blue Heart large model, which includes five matrices, focuses on comprehensive applications, with models of different scales applicable to different scenarios.
With the formal landing and functional upgrades of large models this year, the era of smartphone large models has officially arrived. It has been validated that only intelligent scheduling capable of achieving “edge-cloud collaboration” can gain the dual advantages of “edge-side speed” and “cloud-side strength.”
Through local models tailored for specific uses, smartphone manufacturers can provide a more precise application experience. In November 2023, OPPO released its latest AndesGPT large model, and the Find X7 series has truly realized the application of edge-side large models on smartphones, becoming the industry’s first smartphone with a 70 billion parameter AI large model.
Having a large scale is just the foundation; what really needs to be “rolled out” is based on the capabilities of large models. The OPPO Find X7 series is equipped with the largest upgrade of the historical Xiaobu, allowing the AI wisdom experience of large models to enter users’ daily lives for the first time. The 70 billion-level edge-side large model enables AndesGPT to achieve more functions. In scenarios where users need text content summaries, its upper limit can reach 14,000 words, easily inputting a common journal article, outperforming competitors’ model capabilities by 3.5 times.
At the launch event, OPPO’s Chief Product Officer Liu Zuohu demonstrated the new feature—”AI Large Model Voice Summary”—to the audience. As one of the first owners of the ideal Mega, Liu Zuohu had a conversation with the CEO of Ideal Motors, Li Xiang, a few days prior. After the call, the “AI Large Model Voice Summary” feature can intelligently and automatically generate clear summaries and to-do items. This powerful AI large model experience is also the first of its kind to appear on a smartphone.
With the full-scale implementation of large models on smartphones, the new Xiaobu possesses a total of over 100 capabilities, providing assistance across various dimensions such as office efficiency, life services, and education. When OPPO software product manager Zhu Haizhou appeared, he demonstrated the AI capabilities of Xiaobu in everyday scenarios, including answering questions from his son, taking photos with his wife, and making calls to his mother, showcasing Xiaobu’s ability to respond naturally from the perspective of different age groups, providing peace of mind for users who enjoy taking photos with the AIGC elimination feature.
This brand new “AIGC Elimination” feature not only allows for the removal of image subjects but also brings numerous functions like scene reconstruction. Users can quickly eliminate image flaws with simple selections. With the support of AI capabilities, smartphones now have a more natural and seamless native photo editing function, bidding farewell to the “cut-out feeling” of traditional editing.
For a long time, we have yearned for smartphones to evolve into all-powerful super assistants. Now, with the empowerment of large models, this vision has finally been realized, bringing comprehensive upgrades in imaging, operation, and text-to-image capabilities. OPPO, through its excellent technology integration capabilities, has not only enhanced smartphone AI performance beyond hardware improvements but has also achieved a true technological leap through the deep integration and optimization of software and hardware.
Innovating for Good: New Solutions in a Downturn Era
While the public perceives smartphones as dull and uninteresting, domestic manufacturers are focusing on innovation, investing heavily in truly “stunning” technologies. These benevolent technologies not only feed back into products but also empower industries, inspiring and promoting collective progress across the entire sector.
In the strong suit of Chinese smartphones—imaging—2023 also saw many breakthroughs. The 1-inch large sensor has become standard for imaging flagships, optical technology continues to upgrade, and the inclusion of ISP has pushed AI computational photography to new heights. In this “involution,” OPPO realizes that merely focusing on piling up optical hardware is not a sustainable path. The new era of imaging should not simply compete on hardware, but rather on who has better “ideas.”
To this end, OPPO has developed a Super Light and Shadow Imaging System, which, through its high integration with the Dimensity 9300 chip, drives the industry’s development in the soft and hard integration of computational light and shadow, entering a new stage of delicate computational mid-tones. Based on the Super Light and Shadow Imaging Engine, OPPO has achieved the filming and display of Dolby Vision across all focal lengths on Android for the first time in collaboration with MediaTek and Dolby, marking another key milestone in the industry’s progression towards HDR.
The competition has always been a norm in the development of Chinese smartphones, and it is the driving force for all players to move forward. In the upward journey, their scope has expanded globally. In the third quarter of 2023, OPPO surpassed Samsung with an 18.3% market share in the Southeast Asian smartphone market, reaching the top position. This brand reflects the potential to compete with Samsung in the Southeast Asian market.
Domestically, OPPO has also grown into a brand capable of “challenging” Apple. In the first half of 2023, OPPO smartphones accounted for the third largest share in China’s high-end smartphone market priced above $600, following Apple and Huawei. As OPPO continues to ascend, the high-end flagship smartphone market is entering a multi-choice era, providing an additional option for domestic brands beyond Huawei.
In terms of technological innovation, OPPO has chosen a benevolent approach, using technology as a means to think about products based on user needs. “Technology serves people, and benevolence benefits the world” is OPPO’s innovation philosophy and an elevation of making products centered around users. The emergence of technologies like satellite communication and AndesGPT in the Find X7 series has showcased the company’s technological strength to everyone. During the group interviews at the launch event, Liu Zuohu revealed that OPPO has centralized all AI-related resources and established an AI center as a crucial means to gain core competitive advantages in the future. It is precisely because there are more brands like OPPO that smartphones are truly being pulled out of the “mud” of micro-innovation.
Competition is not about who tells the best stories or who is the loudest; it’s about who can make the best products. In the era of existing stock, “harmony but difference” is the correct problem-solving approach. OPPO’s benevolent innovation, alongside Huawei’s competitive innovation emphasizing leading ahead, represents the technological strength of China. Benevolence itself is a kind of power; OPPO, with its unique product innovation ideas, provides a reference for enterprises in various industries to persist and move forward with a smile, even in a slowing economy.
