Qualcomm and Baidu have announced this week that they will work together in 2018 on a voice-first smart-assistant optimized for the China smartphone and IoT markets.

Their combined AI solution will use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 chipset and Baidu's DuerOS software.

This deal is a good win for both sides. It blends American component expertise with local Chinese language and software skills. The Chinese AI market is complex and notoriously difficult to crack -- this combo gives them a good shot at success.

However, it won't be all plain sailing. The mobile AI industry is already getting very crowded in China and worldwide. Everyone, from Huawei Kirin to Amazon Alexa, claims to have the best always-on, low-power, voice-activated AI... It is getting ever harder to tell them apart.

Clients of our EDS (Devices) service can read our full analysis of AI smartphone trends here.