MANILA, Philippines – Chinese smartphone maker OPPO emphasized at the Mobile World Congress a more aggressive approach toward the integration and rollout of AI features for its devices.
It said it is focused on changing its AI experience from “functional-level to system-level AI,” meaning it’s improving how its devices interface with AI technologies, including those from third parties such as Google.
Google Gemini, for instance, will soon be able to interact with native OPPO apps such as Notes, Calendar, and Clock, similar to how the technology is able to interface with Samsung apps on the recently launched flagship S25 phones.
OPPO said it is working closely with Google to bring the latest Gemini 2.0 on its phones soon. Currently, some OPPO phones have support for Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemini 1.5 Flash. Gemini 2.0 is the latest version of the AI family, introduced in December 2024.
On the security front, OPPO will be integrating its AI features with a platform it said will enhance user security and privacy, called the Private Computing Cloud built with Confidential Computing from Google Cloud. Some AI features are processed on the cloud, meaning information leaves the phone and proceeds to an external server. PCC, according to OPPO, is meant to be a platform that keeps that information secure and protected.
Some of these features include AI Recording Summary, AI features including AI Search, AI Studio, and AI Call Summary.
OPPO said it’s looking to double the number of users using its generative AI features to 100 million users this year, compared to the 50 million they targeted in 2024.
The new features it’s looking to develop are said to fall under three umbrellas: AI Productivity, AI Creativity, and AI Imaging. Productivity tools may include those that help summarize chats or transcribe recordings. Creativity tools may include multimedia editing suites, while imaging refers to photos and videos.
While the partnership with Google highlights the software end of things, the company also discussed an ongoing research and development strategy together with Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek in order to “optimize chips for high-efficiency, real-time AI processing that enables powerful performance without compromising energy efficiency.”
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With the arrival of AI phones, phone systems-on-a-chip are now measured not only by their sheer computing power on the CPU (central processing unit), or graphical processing on GPU (graphics processing unit), but also their neural processing via the NPU (neural processing unit).
Will Chen, deputy general manager of the wireless business group at MediaTek, noted how the partnership may result in AI-enabled improvements for photography, gaming related experiences, security, and connectivity.
OPPO promised one new AI update per month, with AI Search and Google Gemini integration coming to its latest foldable phone, the Find N5, “soon.”
Two specific features — AI Call Translator, for real-time language translation over a call, and AI VoiceScribe, which can summarize voice calls, and meetings — are also coming to OPPO devices “via a future update.”
While we’ve seen similar AI features from the likes of Samsung, what we’re seeing this year are similar functionalities coming to more phones now.
OPPO’s current key mobile products are the foldable Find N5, flagship Find X8, and the midrange Reno13. – Rappler.com
