Alibaba is bringing its Qwen artificial intelligence (AI) technology to smartphones through a partnership with global smartphone maker HONOR, giving the phone maker tools to build devices that can plan and carry out tasks across apps.

HONOR is the first partner to adopt Qwen Intelligence, a set of AI models and software tools for smartphone manufacturers. Its Magic9 Series, scheduled to launch Sept. 28, and HONOR Robot Phone will be the first devices to incorporate the technology.

The partnership gives Alibaba a route into consumer devices while offering HONOR a way to add AI features to its MagicOS operating system. The companies are jointly developing models and tools for specific uses on HONOR phones.

Introduced at the Apsara Conference in Hangzhou, Qwen Intelligence includes AI models adapted for phones and ready-made agents. Manufacturers can use the full package or choose individual parts to integrate into their devices. It is available through its official website and Alibaba Cloud services.

“Agentic smartphones are the primary gateway bridging personal AI and the physical world,” said Steven Hoi, head of Qwen Mobile AI at Token Foundry and vice president of Alibaba Token Hub (ATH). “Qwen Intelligence integrates mobile-optimized Qwen models with a custom-engineered harness, empowering phone makers to deliver seamless, personal intelligence to their users.” 

The initial offering has three agents. Mobile Planner Agent breaks a request into smaller tasks and coordinates the tools needed to complete them. For example, it could turn a request to arrange a business trip into steps involving flights, a hotel, calendar entries, and an itinerary.

Mobile-Use Agent performs actions across apps, using direct connections to app services where available and on-screen controls as a backup. Alibaba said it includes security and privacy protections. Mobile Creative Agent handles image creation and editing on smartphones.

Alibaba said its design enables phones and cloud services to share AI work to balance speed, performance, and cost. It also plans to add personalized memory, assistance that can suggest actions, and more agents developed with partners.

The company has built tests for how agents plan and complete mobile tasks, including work across multiple apps and tests on physical devices. Alibaba said one benchmark covers more than 1,000 tasks and 200 mobile tools.

According to Alibaba, HONOR AI smartphones using the technology can achieve task accuracy of up to 91.8% and handle workflows exceeding 100 steps. The company did not provide details in the announcement on how that accuracy figure was measured.

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