• OPPO has announced the development of a new AI Center that will focus on bringing generative AI features to more of its smartphones.
• For the second quarter of 2024, OPPO has earmarked the Reno 11 series to receive the new features.
• While not all are listed, AI Eraser is one of the generative AI functions outlined.

The smartphone world is obsessed with AI, much like every other technology-related industry at the moment. We have already seen Samsung lay out a marker with its S24 series, and the impending rollout of Galaxy AI to older generations of phones, but Chinese phone maker OPPO is aiming to keep pace.

This as the company announced that it is developing an AI Center, located at its AndesBrain (Binhaiwan Bay) IDC campus, where it built a data centre only a couple of years ago.

“Through dedicated research and development into AI and its applications, the new Center aims to further strengthen OPPO’s AI capabilities and explore a broader range of user-centric AI products and features that will enable OPPO to bring users the latest experiences at the forefront of AI,” the company noted in a press release.

“Within the second quarter of 2024, the OPPO Reno11 Series will be equipped with advanced generative AI capabilities, including the innovative OPPO AI Eraser function and more. These advancements mark OPPO’s dedication to pioneering the cutting edge of AI and to enhancing the accessibility of AI technology for users worldwide,” it added.

It is worth pointing out that the AI Eraser feature mentioned above is not brand new, as it featured on the Find X7 Ultra that the company revealed earlier this year. That device, however, is not available in South Africa, but the Reno 11 series is expected to debut locally later in the year when OPPO officially unveils it.

Along with the announcement of the AI Center, OPPO used this chance to outline what it thinks an on-device AI experience should be about, noting four aspects in particular:

• “AI Smartphones must efficiently utilize computing resources to meet the computational needs of generative AI in the AI era.
• AI Smartphones should be aware of the real world in time through sensors, understanding the complex information of users and the environment.
• AI Smartphones also need to possess powerful self-learning capabilities.
• AI Smartphones will have multimodal content generation abilities, providing users with continuous inspiration and knowledge support.”

With AI on smartphones still in the early days, it will be interesting to see which company dictates how those generative AI experiences will best be put to use for consumers.