Just like everyone has a Hamlet in their heart, everyone has their own AI PC. Since the new concept of AI PC emerged last year, the industry has begun to imagine what fresh experiences AI PC will bring, even igniting a revolution in productivity tools, breathing new life into the somewhat stagnant PC industry.
Moore’s Law is still in effect today, but the surprises hardware brings us are not as abundant as in the past; the hypothesis of “overcapacity” is frequently discussed. However, AI PCs provide a place for increasingly powerful computing capabilities to be utilized, but to truly excel in AI PCs, one must have some “real stuff”.
The leading companies in an industry will determine its direction; when it comes to PCs, we naturally turn to Lenovo. On May 16, Lenovo held an AI PC launch and AI phone experience event at its global headquarters in Beijing. Several AI PC products were showcased, including the YOGA Book 9i AI version, YOGA Pro 16s AI version, YOGA Air 14 AI version, and the Legion 9000X 2024 AI version. This is another significant move following Lenovo’s display of AI PC products at the Tech World innovation conference a month prior. The shift from a technical conference to a product launch event reflects the difference between product development and market release. Bridging the gap to reach the end user is a key step we often refer to in marketing as the product GTM (Go-to-market). In a highly competitive environment, Lenovo has not engaged in a price war but instead led the PC industry’s development with a dual marketing model of value marketing and explosive product marketing, representing a microcosm of Lenovo’s direct-to-customer business model transformation.
Looking back at the decades of development in the PC industry, the emergence of the “multimedia PC” in the 1990s allowed PCs to have broader application scenarios, and Lenovo, with its forward-looking market layout and outstanding products, became the number one in the Chinese market at that time. The second revolution in PCs came from deep integration with the internet, allowing users to communicate with any computer in the world. Lenovo once again led the industry upgrade during the internet PC phase, successfully claiming the global PC market crown during this period.
Now, the vigorous development of artificial intelligence brings unprecedented opportunities to the PC industry, ushering in a third revolutionary upgrade. Compared to the inconvenience of large cloud models, users are eager for AI PCs to truly enhance efficiency, cost, and convenience, and the surge in user demand has opened up a new track for AI PCs. Renowned market research firm Canalys predicts that global AI PC shipments will reach 48 million units in 2024, accounting for 18% of total PC shipments; by 2025, AI PC shipments are expected to exceed 100 million, reaching 40%. Against the backdrop of a cooling PC industry, the powerful combination of PCs and AI undoubtedly injects a strong boost into the industry.
The leap from trendy technology to genuinely useful advancements is not instantaneous, much like how the internet transitioned from a “fad” to an “everyday necessity”. As the saying goes, one must break to establish; AI PCs will undoubtedly break old paradigms while creating new applications. It will shatter the old hardware-centric view and bring entirely new applications to users.
To better understand, let’s discuss some applications relevant to our work and life scenarios. For example, quickly summarizing thousands of words of references, swiftly grasping core knowledge; easily writing a sweet potato copy or a video script to answer your questions and provide creative inspiration; even a primary school student can quickly draw a picture with a simple description. AI PCs not only enhance efficiency but truly allow an ordinary person to possess new capabilities previously unattainable. As the ancients said, a gentleman does not differ from others but makes good use of things, which is equally applicable today. An AI PC can help you accomplish the scenarios mentioned above. Lenovo has named its first generation AI PC “Yuanqi”, and while this new AI species may not be complete, the intelligent experience it brings is undoubtedly revolutionary, much like the booming new energy vehicle industry today. Lenovo’s step from 0 to 1 with the AI PC Yuanqi version is of great significance.
What constitutes a true AI PC? Lenovo believes that an AI PC should possess five key characteristics: an embedded personal large model for natural user interaction, a personal knowledge base, local heterogeneous AI computing power, an open AI application ecosystem, and personal data and privacy protection. At the experience launch, Lenovo presented the YOGA Book 9i AI version, YOGA Pro 16s AI version, YOGA Air 14 AI version, and the Legion Y9000X AI version, all of which feature the five essential characteristics required of a true AI PC.
From the world’s first AI dual-screen convertible laptop, the YOGA BOOK 9i AI version, to the ultimate performance product, the Legion Y9000X AI version, we see Lenovo’s commitment to “innovation”. Not only is there continuous iteration and upgrading of hardware products, but also the integration of large AI models into PCs, providing users with a lower-cost and more efficient AI experience, truly promoting the large-scale implementation of AI PCs, bringing AI into thousands of households and filling the world with AI. Additionally, the moto X50 Ultra AI phone also made a stunning appearance at this experience event. Lenovo is deeply integrating AI with PCs and phones, signaling the official start of an industry revolution driven by AI.
All the AI terminals released at this event are embedded with Lenovo’s personal intelligent agent, Xiao Tian, which can interact with users in natural language, providing a more convenient experience in work, study, and other scenarios. Powered by a hybrid cloud large model based on user data, the personal intelligent agent Xiao Tian can offer more precise services. Functionally, Xiao Tian can summarize documents, answer knowledge questions, and in different scenarios, it can seamlessly switch roles as the user’s work partner, study buddy, or entertainment companion.
It is worth mentioning that this experience event also announced the appointment of Dilraba Dilmurat as the brand ambassador for Lenovo and Moto. This national-level endorsement showcases Lenovo’s combination of top technology with star influence, not only demonstrating its outstanding technological strength but also vividly conveying the infinite possibilities of AI technology in daily life.
Since Lenovo proposed “All In AI” in 2017, it has embarked on a strategic transformation, and in 2023, it proposed the beautiful vision of “AI For All”, further deepening its AI strategy and building strong momentum for the development of AI terminals. Just as more than a decade ago, Lenovo led the Chinese PC industry to the world with its solid technological foundation, the era of AI PCs has seen Lenovo take the lead in the fast lane of AI inclusivity, and the future discourse power of AI PCs will still belong to Lenovo, which dares to take real action.
