Khaberni - China has unveiled the world's first smartphone that operates with a fully autonomous AI, in a step described as a leap forward in the global artificial intelligence race, through a prototype developed by telecommunications giant ZTE in collaboration with ByteDance, the owner of the TikTok app.
The new phone is called Nubia M153 and features a "smart agent" that is embedded directly in the operating system, not just a voice assistant within apps, meaning the phone has the ability to use the screen, navigate between apps, tap, write, make calls, and execute multi-step tasks in a way that perfectly mimics a human.
Unprecedented technical specifications
Businessman Taylor Ogan demonstrated the phone on his X platform account, explaining that the device operates with a custom version of Android, integrated with the Doubao model, an artificial intelligence system owned by ByteDance, used by more than 175 million people within China.
Ogan explained that the AI does not just understand commands, but also has complete control over the phone at the graphical interface level, allowing it to open and download applications, click and type on the screen, make calls, execute payments, and complete complex tasks without user intervention.
In one of the demonstrations, Ogan asked the phone to find someone to stand in his place in a queue, a service available through freelance apps in China, and the AI automatically selected the appropriate app, filled in the data, set the task, and then displayed the final confirmation screen without the user even knowing which app should have been used.
This step represents a quantum leap compared to current smart assistants in phones from companies like Samsung and Apple, which are still confined to specific applications and require user permission, while ZTE and ByteDance's agent operates freely within the entire phone interface as though it was a human user.
Ogan further explained that the phone operates with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor from Qualcomm and contains 16 GB of random access memory (RAM). Tasks are divided between: cloud processing for understanding meanings and planning through the Doubao model, and local processing on the device for immediate control of the screen through another model known as Nebula-GUI, a model that contains 7 billion parameters trained specifically by ZTE.
This division enables the phone to work faster and provides greater privacy in sensitive operations such as payment and passwords.
In another experiment, Ogan took a photo of a hotel entrance and asked the phone to book a room; the AI recognized the hotel from the photo, determined the booking date, reviewed the pet policy, then opened the Chinese booking app Ctrip and completed all the steps automatically.
He also asked the phone to book a robot taxi; the AI used location data to choose the most suitable app, which is Baidu Apollo, specified the pickup point and the destination, and when Ogan changed the drop-off location during the ride, the AI immediately adjusted the route directly within the app and inside the car.
In another experience through the Meituan platform, Ogan asked the phone to buy two drinks; the purchasing and payment were processed, and delivery organized via a drone, and even when Meituan's automated system called back for confirmation, the AI answered and spoke with another "robot" with no human input.
He also showcased ByteDance's image generation tools, where the AI can alter only the clothing inside a picture without affecting the scene, such as transforming a person wearing an NYPD jacket into a Chinese police uniform or an FBI jacket.