Dubai
Huawei is playing an important role in bringing artificial intelligence (AI) into its smartphone as Mate 9 is expected to have Amazon Alexa’s voice service by the end of first quarter.
Honor had also launched its Magic smartphone in China with AI capabilities but it will not be sold overseas.
“We incorporate AI with the whole ecosystem and third-party applications. It has integrated a lot of third-party software,” Chris Sun Baigong, vice-president, Huawei Honor Middle East, said and highlighted the need for an ecosystem to be built around the phone before it could be launched.
Once this technology gets good feedback, he said that this could come to some of its products later.
“Augmented reality and virtual reality are the future trends in the smartphone but content is a big issue right now. That is why we have invested a lot on photography and faster transmissions. But we also know that this is an ecosystem [AR and VR] and this cannot be done by one manufacturer, it needs collaboration for content. It will take time for AR and VR to grow,” he said.
“We are working very closely with all content providers in the region, in terms of video, music and live streaming of all media. We may have some surprises in our next launch,” he said.
Baigong said the key trends to watch out for smartphones this year are photography, better battery life, better experience and better network connection.
