Nubia will introduce a new flagship smartphone with a system-level AI agent at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.
Ni Fei, Senior Vice President of ZTE and President of its Mobile Devices division, described the device as the world’s first AI agent smartphone. The claim comes from Nubia and has not yet been independently verified.
The phone will make its first public appearance at WAIC 2026, which will run from July 17 to July 20 in Shanghai.
Shanghai officials previously listed the AI agent smartphone among the major new products scheduled to appear at the event.
Industry speculation suggests the device could be the commercial version of Nubia’s second-generation Doubao smartphone, developed with ByteDance. However, Nubia has not confirmed the phone’s name or its connection to ByteDance.
The earlier Nubia M153 was introduced as a technology preview with ByteDance’s Doubao AI assistant. Its limited initial batch of 30,000 units reportedly sold out on the first day.
Unlike conventional AI phones that mainly answer questions or generate content, Nubia says its new device will integrate the AI agent directly into the operating system.
The agent is designed to understand instructions given in natural language and carry out complex tasks across several applications without requiring users to complete every step manually.
For example, a user could ask the phone to book the cheapest flight to Beijing. The agent would then open the required applications, compare prices, enter the booking information, and complete the payment process.
The system reportedly uses a graphical user interface agent and an on-device large language model. This setup allows the AI to visually understand and operate the phone’s interface instead of relying entirely on direct access through application programming interfaces.
ZTE says its CoClaw intelligent scheduling technology will also support communication across different applications and ecosystems, allowing the phone to complete more advanced automated tasks.
Nubia has not yet revealed the phone’s hardware specifications, price, or commercial release date. More details are expected when the device appears at WAIC 2026.
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