WAIC: AI Gets a New Physical Body
APPSO · wechat · 2026-07-19
A core takeaway from WAIC is that AI competition is shifting from model parameters to "who owns the most physical bodies," with the new battleground spanning phones, earphones, glasses, and robots. ### AI Phones Enter the System Layer AI phones are moving beyond simple photo editing, summaries, and wallpapers, beginning to embed agents directly into the OS. StepFun introduced STEPXNeo and StepAOS, focusing on a native agent OS. Nubia and Doubao continue to push the NaviXUltra towards mass production. Ant's "Abao" integrated with OPPO's Breeno assistant, and Honor showcased a RobotPhone with a movable gimbal camera. Apple's Chinese mainland Apple Intelligence has also completed regulatory filing, paving the way for future rollout. ### Wearables and Embodied AI Heat Up In the earphone and glasses sector, Alibaba showcased QwenClip AI earphones, emphasizing translation and meeting summary scenarios. AI memory glasses transform whiteboards, business cards, and chat details into a searchable "second brain." Embodied AI took on a heavier focus: the robotics exhibition area shifted from "gimmicks" to "actual labor." The article lists deployment cases like pharmacy prescription picking, factory depalletizing, retail guidance, inspection, and household chores. Many companies are now pitching their stories using metrics like task success rate, continuous operation time, and ROI period. Overall, terminal hardware and robotics are becoming the most realistic productization direction for AI.
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