[MWC 개막]
China does not attend CES, but pours out firepower at MWC… Setting up a booth right next to Samsung
Huawei-Xiaomi-Honor new technology offensive
Point out “limits of global cooperation on US sanctions”
The world’s largest mobile expo, ‘Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024’, opened on the 26th at the first exhibition hall of ‘Fira Gran Via’ in Barcelona, Spain. The first thing that caught my eye was the huge booth of Huawei, a Chinese information and communication device company. Huawei, which prepares the largest exhibition every year, set up the largest exhibition hall of 9,000 m2 this year as well.
Visitors also showed interest in the model island provided in the middle of the exhibition hall. This is an experience center created by Huawei to show off the performance of its smartphones. On this island, various miniature animals and plants, including pandas and butterflies, are on display, which you can photograph with your smartphone. This is to emphasize that it is possible to take clear pictures even when close-up of an object up to 5cm. Billy Marigold, a Swedish information technology (IT) consultant who has personally used Huawei smartphones, said, “I was surprised to see that even the wrinkles of a butterfly were expressed even when taking pictures up close.” He added, “It seems that the camera technology of Chinese smartphones has improved a lot.” In addition to Huawei, visitors also showed interest in another Chinese company, Honor, which set up an exhibition hall right next to Samsung Electronics. Just because it was located next to Samsung Electronics, the atmosphere was evaluated as having a high spirit of challenge.
Chinese companies’ firepower is strong at this year’s MWC. China’s major big tech companies, such as Huawei and Xiaomi, are not participating in ‘CES 2024’, the world’s largest IT and home appliance exhibition held in the United States, and are instead focusing their efforts on MWC held in Europe. Not only traditional powerhouses Huawei and Xiaomi, but also emerging powerhouses such as China Telecom, Honor, Oppo, and Alipay set up exhibition halls and began introducing their products and technologies.
According to the Korea Information and Communications Technology Industry Association (KICTA), 288 companies from China participated in the event, the fourth largest after the host country, Spain (696), the United States (432), and the United Kingdom (408). This is interpreted as a strategy to target the European market as it is difficult to enter the North American market due to pressure from the United States.
Chinese companies have begun to attract attention with AI phones, seemingly targeting Samsung Electronics, which launched the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) phone. Huawei introduced an on-device AI smartphone equipped with its independently developed Large Language Model (LLM) ‘Pangu’ on its smartphone operating system (OS) ‘Harmony’. In addition, Huawei announced that it will commercialize 5.5G, a high-quality network technology that goes one step further from 5th generation (5G), this year. Huawei President Li Peng emphasized, “Telecommunication companies around the world must focus on high-quality networking, new services, and generative AI to seize the opportunities brought by 5.5G.”
Xiaomi held a new product launch event in Barcelona the day before the opening of MWC and introduced the strategic smartphone ‘Xiaomi 14’ series, tablets, and wearable devices. The Xiaomi 14 series applies a large-scale AI model, including the ability to transcribe meeting contents into text in real time or explain photos. The photo search function has also been improved.
Honor, which became independent from Huawei, introduced the ‘Magic 6 Pro’ smartphone. It is equipped with an eye-tracking AI function that allows users to remotely open and move car doors simply by looking at the mobile phone screen.
Chinese companies are making global inroads with AI phones, but some say it remains to be seen whether they will succeed. This is because there are inevitable limits to global cooperation due to US sanctions and China’s closed political and social environment. In fact, Huawei cannot use Google’s Android OS due to US sanctions. This is why Huawei has no choice but to create its own OS called ‘Harmony’. An official from the information and communication technology (ICT) industry who participated in MWC said, “Recently, there is a trend to advance AI technology based on global cooperation and openness between companies,” adding, “Chinese companies may be able to catch up in hardware, but they do not use global platforms such as Google.” “If you can’t do it, you will inevitably face difficulties,” he said.
Barcelona =
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.