OPPO has recently officially established an AI New Hardware Lab, led by Jiang Yuchen, former Director of Smart Product R&D for ColorOS. The lab aims to extend personalized proactive intelligence from phones to more hardware form factors and accelerate the development of an AI-native device ecosystem.
In 2023, Jiang founded Waveform Intelligence, a large-model startup focused on applications such as long-text generation. In October 2024, Waveform Intelligence was acquired by OPPO, and Jiang subsequently joined OPPO to take part in system-level AI product R&D. In December 2025, OPPO further consolidated its AI businesses, integrating Breeno Memory, Breeno Assistant, Breeno Suggestions, and related operations into "Super Breeno," managed by the Smart Product R&D Department, with Jiang overseeing related product development.
OPPO's latest hardware move continues its proactive intelligence strategy, focusing on continuously understanding users' daily behavior, historical information, and current context, and proactively offering help at the right time. Because phones struggle to fully capture information from real-world scenarios such as face-to-face conversations and impromptu decisions, OPPO has begun exploring standalone hardware as a new AI interaction gateway.
In September this year, OPPO launched its first AI-native hardware product, the "Xinli Ball" (Mind-Energy Ball). The device weighs only 9.8 grams, can be clipped onto a collar or similar position, supports up to 24 hours of continuous recording, and is priced at 499 yuan for early adopters. In addition to meeting recording and summary generation, the Xinli Ball can link to past discussions, continuously track the progress of matters, and remind users to pay attention to important commitments and to-do tasks.
From ColorOS's system-level AI initiatives to the launch of the Xinli Ball, and now to the establishment of a dedicated AI New Hardware Lab, OPPO is trying to translate AI capabilities accumulated at the software layer into more device products. This organizational adjustment also means its AI strategy is beginning to expand from the phone ecosystem to broader hardware scenarios, and its future product forms and commercialization progress are worth watching.
