Huawei reportedly developing its own voice assistant

Huawei will reportedly foray into the competitive world of digital assistants according to Bloomberg.

The report says the world's third largest smartphone maker is working on its own digital voice assistant, the company's answer to Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa. Huawei's voice assistant is currently in the early stages of development, and is backed by a team of more than 100 engineers.

Initially, Huawei's digital voice assistant will communicate in Chinese language and target domestic users. However, the company will continue to work with Google and Amazon outside China. Last month Huawei launched the Mate 9 in US with Alexa integration.

The report further mentions that by building its own voice assistant, Huawei believes its device will stand out in Chinese market, where many Google services on popular Android devices are not accessible.

Huawei is at an all-time high and is currently the third biggest smartphone vendor in the world, trailing Apple and Samsung, and second in home market, China. Apart of China, Huawei is aggressively expanding its presence in India (third), US and Europe. This year the company is targeting $33 billion revenue from smartphone sales.

Meanwhile, Samsung is all set to introduce its own voice assistant called Bixby, which will debut with the Galaxy S8. 

Source