ZTE’s AI phone sells out as China rebuilds the smartphone

ZTE is pitching the NaviX Ultra as the world’s first agentic AI smartphone, a device designed to let an AI agent carry out tasks across apps rather than simply offer isolated features.

The company showcased the phone at the World AI Conference in Shanghai this week. Built under ZTE’s Nubia brand, the NaviX Ultra runs ByteDance’s Doubao AI agent, which users can activate by voice or with a dedicated button. It is available in four colours and was prototyped in December at 3,499 yuan ($516).

ZTE’s initial batch of 30,000 units sold out quickly, with resale prices later doubling on the used market.

Agentic smartphone competition in China

ZTE was not the only Chinese manufacturer presenting this approach. StepFun unveiled a device running a proprietary operating system with a built-in agent called Amoo. Honor, the smartphone maker spun off from Huawei, is showcasing an AI agent co-developed with Alibaba that will ship on new devices later this year.

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The three companies are pursuing the same basic architecture: an agentic layer integrated into the operating system, allowing AI to execute tasks autonomously across apps instead of adding disconnected AI tools to an existing interface.

“Many so-called AI phones on the market simply stack AI functions on top of an existing system. That actually makes it more cumbersome for users.”

AI phones arrive as shipments decline

The timing reflects mounting pressure on China’s smartphone industry. Shipments have fallen for five consecutive quarters, while the memory crisis has driven component costs higher and weakened consumer demand. IDC expects the global smartphone market to post its steepest annual decline on record in 2026.

Chinese manufacturers, many of which sell budget phones with thin margins, are being squeezed hardest. IDC’s Arthur Guo said more than half of China’s smartphone market could be dominated by AI devices this year.

The push also intensifies competition with Apple, which recently received Beijing’s approval to roll out Apple Intelligence in China through partnerships with Alibaba and Baidu. “In terms of AI smart devices, we are ahead of Apple,” Ni wrote on Weibo in June.

Whether an agent that books flights and edits photos can persuade people to replace phones they already own will become clearer by the end of the year.