The Doubao AI smartphone, a Chinese mobile that we saw arrive a few weeks agois not another mobile phone with AI functions crammed in, but a serious attempt to turn AI into the device’s real operating system, one capable of relegating Android to mere infrastructure.
ByteDance’s bet is clear: whoever controls the assistant that executes the tasks will be the one who controls the user. Although I don’t control the app store. That breaks with the model of the last seventeen years.
Why is it important. The model has not changed since 2008:
- The operating system funnels the user into its ecosystem of applications.
- That app store is capital for 99% of users: without it, you wouldn’t see the value.
- And that store allows the platform to capture traffic, data and transactions.
Doubao’s proposal wants to change the model towards one in which the user speaks and the AI executes crossing applications without the user having to enter them. Chinese super applications become invisible infrastructure for the user. Doubao itself has been pointing in that direction for some time with other devices, like headphones.
Between the lines. Those same super apps are not happy with this proposal, and in fact when Doubao simulates taps to complete tasks, WeChat or Alipay interpret it as an attack, so they block attempts and close sessions.
WeChat has built its empire Regarding experience control and payments, Alipay has invested a lot of money in reaching total user retention. An AI that compares prices between rivals breaks its desired captivity.
- ByteDance has copied the Seres-Huawei model: ZTE provides the shell, ByteDance provides the brain. And that’s how you get operating system privileges.
- Doubao has permission for everything by default and Android becomes more like just another application, because the manufacturer and AI layer control everything.
Yes, but. Accuracy is around 50% in complex tasks that involve several applications. It works in simple scenarios, it fails when the user requests something that requires coordinating three different applications.
Traditional manufacturers such as Samsung, Xiaomi or Oppo cannot adopt a model like this because it would mean handing over control to a third party. The alternative path is to build a framework where AI can coordinate applications, but with those applications maintaining control through APIs.
The money trail. ByteDance does not have the business model of selling mobile phones at mid-range prices. Its model is based on behavioral data, traffic to its services and commissions on transactions executed by AI. The smartphone is the gateway and AI is its big bet in which use TikTok as a springboard.
And now what. This is not a battle between assistants but between models:
- The app-centric that has been operating for seventeen years.
- The AI-centric where applications tend to become invisible.
ByteDance is betting on the second, which changes the entry point for the user. That entry point has been on the application icon for three decades. ByteDance believes it will be on the microphone tomorrow.
Featured image | Doubao
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