On April 10th, Huawei’s official Weibo account for its consumer devices kicked off their campaign with a teaser poster emphasizing the theme “Light yet Powerful” for their upcoming Huawei MateBook X Pro. Huawei’s flagship notebooks have consistently showcased innovation in design and lightweight construction, and this time the buzzword “powerful” has been highlighted. This prompts speculation—is it the specifications, performance, or some refreshing new feature that will set this product apart?

Analyses of market trends and snippets from tech media suggest that Huawei’s new notebook might feature the formidable “Pangolin” AI model, possibly positioning Huawei in the AI PC race and giving it an edge in the market.

But what exactly is an “AI PC”? AI PCs integrate hybrid AI power units in their hardware capable of running “personal large models,” creating local knowledge bases personalized for the user, and facilitating multi-modal human-computer interactions. Essentially, they are PCs deeply integrated with AI technology, designed as personal AI assistants to enhance productivity and streamline workflows.

Over the past decades, driven by breakthroughs in computation, application technologies, and internet connectivity, PCs have transformed twice, becoming indispensable tools for productivity. Nevertheless, after evolving from desktops to laptops to tablets, the PC penetration rate is nearing its peak with little room left for innovation, and demand for traditional PCs has become more cyclical.

Amidst this scenario, we are witnessing a breakthrough in large AI model technologies. Advancements in generative AI and large language models (LLMs) are revolutionizing personal and professional lives, accelerating intelligent transformations across industries. To make AI models more widespread and practical, device hardware capable of meeting these needs is essential. Smart devices are becoming a crucial link for the end-user reach of AI, serving as a significant breakthrough for its future development and implementation. The natural compatibility between large AI models and PCs has given birth to AI PCs and is set to trigger a new wave of transformation in the PC sector.

Industry experts believe that 2024 will mark the “year of mainstream large model applications,” with AI PCs emerging as vital platforms for running large models and AIGC applications at scale. IDC forecasts indicate that by 2027, AI PCs could account for 85% of China’s total PC shipments.

Under the momentum of AI, the PC industry is undergoing revolutionary changes. Leading manufacturers are launching AI-integrated PCs, vying for a dominant position in the nascent AI market. Huawei is deeply invested in this shift.

Huawei has recently embraced an overarching strategy for comprehensive intelligence, aiming to develop China into a formidable computing powerhouse. In this grand vision, PCs play a critical role as endpoint computing resources. They are also a pivotal part of smart office setups within Huawei’s intelligent ecosystem.

Looking back at Huawei’s PC lineage, the brand’s exploration of AI has always been rooted in its intelligence DNA. Even from its inaugural notebook, which established a smart PC ecosystem, Huawei has merged intelligence genes with AI capabilities. It envisions connecting and intercommunicating technologies like AI and big data with devices like smartphones and PCs, creating new scenarios and realms, thereby providing users with a complete intelligent interactive experience and infusing new vitality into the entire PC industry.

In 2016, Huawei introduced the Mate8+MateBook combo tailored for the modern age of business, establishing a blueprint for its smart office ecosystem strategy; in 2017, with features like Huawei Share and an independent encryption chip for fingerprint identification, AI algorithms became part of the intelligent user experience; 2018 saw Huawei Share 3.0 bridging hardware ecosystems and linking a smart living scenario, as well as the incorporation of intelligent temperature control AI algorithms; 2019 witnessed the debut of multiscreen collaboration, a pioneering effort to meld smartphone and PC functionalities for collaboration.

By 2022, the “Super Device” concept was introduced, achieving seamless collaboration with smartphones, tablets, headsets, and smart screens, shaping a more powerful Huawei smart office experience. The same year, Huawei’s self-developed AI technologies began to be widespread in PC conference scenarios, enhancing the user experience through features like AI Vision and AI Sound. Popular smart voice functions from Huawei smartphones were also adapted to PCs, bringing features like AI subtitles, real-time transcription, and audio-video file transcriptions. In 2023, AI applications were further upgraded, introducing features like AI minutes and smart voice for novel human-computer interactions, coupled with improvements to the SuperTurbo 2.0 for comprehensive smart hardware management.

Now is a year of reaping rewards for Huawei; it has secured both industry recognition and consumer trust, maintaining the top spot in China’s ultrabook market. For Huawei, intelligent interaction has always been the pursuit—AI has never been distant, but instead, it’s a part of ongoing progressive innovation, already engrained in everyday living.

While other companies are still searching for an “entry pass,” Huawei’s smart PCs are primed for the AI era. Entering the inaugural year of AI PC development, Huawei is set to capitalize on the early adopter advantage with its latest flagship rendition.

Distinguishing themselves from conventional PCs, AI PCs offer “thousands of faces” for personalized experiences, leveraging natural language interaction, embedded smart hybrid computing power, an open ecosystem, and ensuring data privacy and security. They’re poised to bring innovative experiences in work, learning, and life to users.

For instance, in work scenarios, AI PCs can assist with professional document creation, and graphic or audio content production, enhancing efficiency; in education, they can provide personalized learning plans, intelligently distribute tasks, and boost learning effectiveness; for lifestyle applications, AI PCs can serve as personal travel assistants, helping users with proactive booking and personalized travel plans, among other possibilities.

As the AI PC era rushes toward us, smarter devices are breaking the mold of traditional applications, making AI technology accessible to all. This transformation opens up limitless possibilities across work, life, and learning scenarios, leading us into a more intelligent, interconnected future.

So what new AI-smart experiences will Huawei’s MateBook X Pro, backed by the formidable capabilities of the “Pangolin” AI model, bring to the table? Let’s eagerly anticipate what’s in store!