Super God-Level Top Student

Some people were concerned about the smoothness of the HM system, while others cared more about Youwei's signal and download rate. Still, others frowned at the battery life without a word.

However, the focal point of attention was likely the upgraded Qunzhi intelligent voice system after the update.

This operation, akin to transplanting a large language model similar to ChatGPT directly onto a smartphone, felt as incredulous as the reports detailing how Youwei's new generation CPU had directly adopted multi-threaded computer operations.

Apple could disregard the latter, but they were very concerned about the former.

Apple dared to incrementally upgrade hardware—squeezing every last bit out of it—amidst competitors piling on hardware because the development of smartphone hardware has always surpassed software development. Simply put, for ninety-nine percent of users, the performance capabilities of smartphone hardware are actually excessive.

A twenty percent improvement in CPU/GPU computational speed is barely noticeable to the vast majority in daily use, aside from benchmarking software.

Moreover, the IOS system has always been extremely stringent with software requirements. Unlike Android, the system doesn't allow various programs to reside in the background constantly, so naturally, it doesn't need such high hardware specifications.

But when their competitors transplant a platform based on a large language intelligence model directly onto the phone, the situation changes.

Because it could potentially change user habits with smartphones.

Although smart voice assistants like Apple's Siri, Youwei's Yi, Samsung's Bixby, and Da Mi's Xiao Ai have been standard features on smartphones, they are still auxiliary in nature and not frequently used.

Even if they perform exceptionally well, most users will only give them a try, but in most daily life scenarios, they are accustomed to using their fingers. For instance, no one would converse with Siri through a Bluetooth headset in public, as it would look silly.

However, if the smartphone assistant could understand most natural speech and respond like a human being, it would be a different matter.

People could converse directly with their phones and receive the necessary feedback through their earphones.

For example, when a user directly asks the phone about the weather today and instead of opening an app, the phone responds in a tone acceptable to the user, telling them it might rain and there could be a sudden temperature drop, and reminds them to put on an extra layer and not forget an umbrella, that kind of conversation wouldn't seem silly in any setting.

Especially when everyone knows and gets accustomed to this direct voice control mode—to inquire from the phone the content of received messages; to command it to skip to the next song if the current one is unappealing; or even to chat with the phone via a Bluetooth headset while taking a stroll alone...

Even if only twenty percent of Apple users developed this habit of all-voice interaction in their daily routine, Apple would likely lose these users forever to Youwei if it could not keep up with this technology.

Not to mention that Qunzhi, as a large intelligent platform based on a big language model, is destined for scenarios beyond simply being a smartphone assistant.

What followed was immense pressure, overwhelming pressure.

This once made the atmosphere inside the conference room extremely oppressive.

It could only be said that the Youwei Group had kept their secrets too well before the launch of the M60P.

It caught everyone off guard.

If they had known in advance...

Well, even if they had known, it wouldn't have made much difference.

Let alone the fact that new generation smartphones need to be designed six months in advance, the most important thing is that in such a short time, they couldn't possibly integrate ChatGPT with Siri. After all, ChatGPT doesn't belong to Apple.

Although Apple executives have now begun discussing the use of Ajax to create their own big language model to build the future Apple GPT, this is still not within reach.

This was where the attendees distinctly felt uncomfortable... the glaring technical setback that was indisputable and left no room for excuses.

This was truly damn frustrating!

Up until this year, no matter how much criticism Apple faced, they remained the unassailable NO.1 among all smartphone manufacturers!

But with its Qunzhi System, the M60P could potentially dethrone their products from their divine status.

Apart from Qunzhi, this phone also integrated satellite communication and the bespoke Star Flash Technology.

...

Finally, everyone in the conference room laid down their test report.

This signified that the three smartphones shipped from Huaxia had completed their rounds in everyone's hands.

Tim Cook had already scanned the faces of the attending executives with an expressionless gaze.

"Let's hear it, how should we respond to the... challenge from Huaxia Youwei Company?"

Actually, Apple's CEO initially wanted to use the word "snipe" but felt that it might inflate the rival's ego too much, so he changed it to challenge at the last moment.

Morale was already low, and he didn't want to agitate it further.

No one spoke up voluntarily; everyone was deep in thought.

Coming up with a solution in a short time was indeed an extremely difficult task.

This is especially true for those who have always been on a winning streak, who naturally feel very uncomfortable when facing headwinds.

"Okay, Mike, you go first."

Mike, whom Tim Cook referred to, was Apple Inc.'s newly appointed Global Vice President of Sales—Mike Fenger, overseeing global sales of Apple products and reporting directly to Tim Cook.

"Based on the intelligence I've gathered, Youwei's stockpile isn't very sufficient, but we haven't obtained concrete information about their production capacity. At present, we can only estimate through incomplete data...The good news is that the M60P series phones' Qunzhi System, outside of mainland Huaxia, its adaptability in other regions remains to be seen, especially in the Western Hemisphere.

Without the support of a cloud platform, the Qunzhi System's performance is expected to peak at fifty percent at best, so my suggestion is to discount our older products by twenty percent ahead of schedule, and reduce stockpiles for the new products in the Huaxia region by thirty percent."

Succinctly giving his advice, Mike Fenger closed his mouth.

Tim Cook in work mode could even be described as ruthless, disliking any superfluous talk.

But what frustrated Mike Fenger the most was that he had encountered such a tricky situation just six months into his tenure.

In the world, there has never been a product from a competitor that brought such pressure to Apple, and yet it had to happen on his watch.

What kind of luck was this?

Tim Cook nodded, then turned to the company's current Chief Technology Officer, David Rodman.

"David, your turn."

"There's not much to say, we may have underestimated our opponent. Of course, even if we take this generation of products seriously, we still don't have the relevant technological reserve. Large language models are a very specialized track, and we're late to it. Then there's satellite communication and Star Flash Technology...

All I can say is that we're indeed lacking behind Youwei Group in the accumulation of communications technology. More importantly, I can't make our engineers work more than 48 hours each week."

David Rodman said with an expressionless face.

There was no way around it; they were truly outperformed this time.

Keeping pace with Youwei in the short term would require negotiating with Microsoft to buy ChatGPT.

Even so, updating Apple's hardware and software around ChatGPT would be a troublesome matter.

Setting aside whether the negotiations with Ren Microsoft would go smoothly, just developing the related interfaces and using their large language models to develop our chatbots is not an easy task.

Especially since ChatGPT currently doesn't support the Chinese environment very well.

It is feasible to add satellite calling features by partnering with Musk's Starlink, but this is not something that can be solved in one or two generations of products.

Just as he stated, he couldn't force all the engineers in the design department to work around the clock.

However, it seemed that their counterparts in The East could do so with relative ease.

Unfortunately, Tim Cook clearly had no intention of letting his Chief Technology Officer off the hook and continued to press sternly, "Tell me, how many people and funds would it take for our next-generation product to have this phone's core selling points?"

"Mr. Cook, we must admit that we are behind in this generation of products. As for how much investment it would take to catch up with them, I can't even give you a rough estimate right now; there are too many completely new tracks. This makes me feel frustrated, and I even feel that my abilities are no longer sufficient to fulfill this position."

David Rodman spread his hands.

"So... okay, David. It seems that Apple Inc. needs a new Chief Technology Officer to lead everyone forward. Do you have any good candidates to recommend?"

"Qiao of The East, I suggest you invite him. However, I've heard he's still a student. Oh, and I still suggest you read his thesis; there's no doubt that he developed the Qunzhi System. It's a pity, though, that he's Chinese and has already chosen to collaborate with Youwei Company. Plus, as you wish, I will submit my resignation letter after the meeting."

"I will request the Board's approval as soon as possible. Now, Ms. Anna, let's hear what you think."