Baidu set to unveil its first smartphone

Baidu, China’s answer to Google, seeks to carve out a niche in the highly-saturated smartphone market by launching a device that will integrate artificial intelligence (AI) features.

The smartphone is being referred to as a “new species” within the market, according to reports by Chinese media. It’s being developed by Xiaodu, Baidu’s unit behind DuerOS, an AI-based voice assistant comparable to Amazon’s Alexa.

Baidu is entering the smartphone market amid intense domestic competition and global dominance by brands like Apple and Samsung. It is betting on its latest AI advancements to distinguish its product from rivals, according to China Daily, a Chinese state-run newspaper.

In February, Baidu announced the launch of Ernie Bot, its own AI chatbot designed to compete with Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. Ernie Bot was released in March but faced initial skepticism.

The company’s CEO Robin Li told a media conference at the time that the bot was not perfect, but was being released now due to market demand. ChatGPT and Google services are blocked in China.

The device will reportedly be unveiled next week, but Baidu is tight-lipped for now and has shared few details. Cybernews has reached out for comment.

Still, Ernie Bot is expected to be integrated into Baidu’s new smartphone, which will complement the company’s wider ecosystem of smart speakers, tablets, displays, and headsets.

As one of the leading internet companies in China, Baidu has invested heavily in AI and is the creator of PaddlePaddle, the country’s first open-source deep-learning platform.

On other technological frontiers, the company has also released its own version of the metaverse and revealed its first quantum computer in August last year.