If you’ve ever tried to translate a foreign language with no cell service or taken a blurry photo in a dark restaurant, OPPO and MediaTek think they have a solution for you.
At the Mobile World Congress tech show on Wednesday, the two companies demonstrated new artificial intelligence tools that run entirely on smartphones. The goal is to make AI features work anywhere, even without an internet connection.
The new capabilities are powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500 processor. OPPO has built two main features around it: a translation tool and a portrait photo enhancer.
The translation feature works without sending data to the cloud. That means travelers can use it in subway tunnels or remote areas where phone signals don’t reach. OPPO says it is about 15 percent more accurate than older methods.
The portrait tool fixes photos taken in bad lighting. It analyzes the scene and adjusts the lighting on faces without making the picture look fake or overprocessed. It also works without needing to connect to the internet.
Both features will arrive on OPPO’s Find X9 phones through ColorOS 16.
The companies also teased a longer-term project called Omni. It is an experimental AI model that can understand voice, video, and text at the same time. In a demonstration, a phone could look at a live scene and answer questions about it right away.
Visitors at the conference were able to try out the new tools on OPPO’s Find X9 Pro and Reno15 Pro phones. The Reno model includes some fun additions like erasing moving objects from motion photos and improving flash photography.
Jason Liao, who runs OPPO’s research institute, said the push to put AI directly on phones rather than in the cloud is about making the technology feel natural and instant for everyday use.