Price Crash for Doubao AI Phone: 25% Drop in Three Days, “Mainstream App Ban” Cools Hype
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The hyped "Doubao AI Phone" saw its resale price soar then crash by 25% in days, as mainstream app restrictions delivered a reality check.
A smartphone dubbed the "Chinese version of Jarvis" has experienced a brief price rollercoaster on the second-hand market. The phone, developed jointly by ByteDance and Nubia (a subsidiary of ZTE), was originally priced at $486. After its release, driven by tech influencers promoting it, the resale price on platforms like Dewu skyrocketed, peaking at $907 on December 11—almost double its original price. However, the price then plunged, dropping by 25% to $681 by December 14.
The sharp price drop is attributed to a significant decline in user experience. The phone's key feature is its AI assistant, which offers automated services such as price comparison and placing orders. However, mainstream apps like WeChat, Alipay, and Luckin Coffee quickly imposed restrictions, limiting the phone's functionalities or preventing users from logging in altogether. This severely affected the user experience. Analysts suggest that this issue highlights a fundamental conflict between third-party AI assistants and existing internet platform ecosystems. Major platforms are reluctant to open their APIs to external AI systems in order to protect data security and maintain control over their ecosystems.
The phone released was a "technology preview" model, with only 30,000 units available, all of which have sold out. The team behind the phone has stated they are in talks with other smartphone manufacturers for future collaboration. This incident is being viewed as a symbolic "growing pain" for AI-powered smartphones as they attempt to integrate into the existing digital ecosystem.
