Alibaba Group Holding and Honor are set to announce an expanded partnership to co-develop an operating system for AI-powered devices at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, highlighting accelerating efforts in China’s emerging AI phone sector.
- Alibaba and Honor to reveal an AI operating system called Agentic OS.
- The partnership highlights China’s intensifying AI phone competition.
- The new tech focuses on natural interaction and multi-device task execution.
What happened
Alibaba Group Holding and Honor are poised to deepen their strategic partnership with an announcement at the upcoming World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai. Their collaboration centers on the development of Agentic OS, an operating system designed specifically for AI-powered devices. A highlight of the event will be demonstrations of enhanced agent capabilities developed jointly by these technology firms.
Honor, spun off from Huawei in 2020, has been developing its next-generation AI terminal operating system aimed at enabling more intuitive and proactive user experiences. The company will also lead a WAIC sub-forum focused on the transition from traditional digital interfaces to embodied intelligence, emphasizing their ambition to shape future AI device ecosystems.
Why it matters
The announcement underscores the intensifying competition within China's growing AI phone sector, where multiple players are developing smart devices integrated with AI agents capable of interpreting user intent and managing complex multi-device environments. Alibaba’s cloud computing and AI capabilities complement Honor’s hardware expertise, positioning them strongly in this emerging market.
As AI agent technology evolves, creating seamless, multimodal interactions between humans and devices will be critical. Honor’s foldable Robot Phone, supported by Alibaba’s AI models like Qwen3.7-Plus, exemplifies efforts to embed AI deeply into hardware interfaces, raising the stakes for innovation and user experience in smartphones and related devices.
What to watch next
Industry observers should monitor the formal launch of Agentic OS and how it positions itself against rival operating systems in China’s AI phone marketplace. The reception of this OS will be an indicator of how well Alibaba and Honor can unify software and hardware AI capabilities to redefine user-device interaction.
Additionally, attention will focus on competing showcases at WAIC, including StepFun’s AI-native smartphone and Nubia’s proposed flagship AI agent phone. These unveilings will shed light on the competitive landscape and evolution of AI-centric mobile devices in China, influencing both consumer adoption and developer ecosystems.