Chinese smartphone companies lean on Google for GenAI features

Chinese smartphone brands are turning to Google to power generative AI features in handsets, to compete with Apple and Samsung globally. Brands such as Oppo, Xiaomi and Honor have announced deep partnerships with Google Gemini at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, embedding the language model across the user interface to offer fresh use cases to users.

The features, being showcased at the trade show, target a global audience. Some have showcased image editing features like an AI object eraser that removes unwanted objects in photos, while others had AI agents making restaurant bookings.

"Oppo is further integrating Google AI experiences across its smartphones, and Google Gemini can soon take action across native Oppo apps, such as Notes, Calendar and Clock. These new capabilities will work alongside existing support for Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemini 1.5 Flash on Oppo AI phones to unlock unprecedented levels of performance and responsiveness. The two companies are working closely to bring the latest Gemini 2.0 to Oppo phones soon," the company said at its recently held AI tech summit at MWC.


Similarly, Xiaomi announced its latest AI stack that includes AI-powered writing tools, real-time translation and speech recognition.

"Recognising the growing importance of AI, Xiaomi has continued to strengthen its collaboration with Google by further integrating features such as Google Gemini and Circle to Search, driving smarter, more personalised user experiences and positioning Xiaomi as a leader in intelligent, user-centric solutions for smart living," Xiaomi said in a statement.