Huawei is definitely bringing Amazon’s Alexa to the Mate 9

One of Huawei’s biggest priorities when building its Mate 9 was shoehorning some handy machine learning features into to it. The end result? A machine learning algorithm designed to improve performance by finding the patterns in how you use the phone and allocating resources like RAM accordingly. Turns out Huawei’s AI ambitions don’t end there: a spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that the Mate 9 will receive a software update that brings Amazon’s Alexa to that surprisingly slick phablet.

We’re not entirely sure of the timing yet, but we can confirm that the update will roll out in the US (obviously) and a handful of other markets. Either way, this is a big step for Huawei and for Amazon; the former gets to sell the first properly Alexa-enabled smartphone and Amazon gets the chance to forge a partnership with one of the biggest smartphone makers in China by volume. Alexa-enabled devices like the Echo and Echo Dot aren’t available in China’s site, but this could be a pretty effective trojan horse if and when Amazon makes that move.

By now, it’s all too common to see virtual assistants baked into smartphones — Apple has Siri, Google has its Assistant and Samsung will have… something better than S Voice when the Galaxy S8 launches. Most of those assistants wound up working on their respective smartphones by way of acquisitions, but Huawei’s approach closely mirrors what we’ve seen from many, many other companies at CES this year. Because Amazon has been so open with letting hardware makers run integrate Alexa, we’ve started to see a glut of devices go with “her” to enable voice commands. Cronologics’ Alexa-powered smartwatch launched earlier this year (it was alright), and here in Vegas, Alexa is making “her” way into everything from DVRs to appliances.