(Yicai Global) May 9 -- Xiaodu Technology will launch its first AI-driven mobile phone later this month, the artificial intelligence arm of Chinese internet giant Baidu told Yicai Global today, confirming the announcement made on social media by Chief Executive Officer Jing Kun yesterday.

Called Xiaodu Qinghe, the cellphone comes installed with the firm’s own AI-developed tech and is a new type of smartphone on the market, a company insider told Yicai Global. Baidu’s new chatbot ERNIE Bot will not be embedded in the system, he added. Full details should be released next week, he added.

The phone might be education oriented, as it has a similar name to an AI-learning program called the "AI Green Bamboo Growth Project" that Beijing-based Xiaodu has developed for primary school students.

This will be the latest in an array of smart hardware made by Xiaodu, which mainly produces smart speakers, smart headphones, smart learning tablets, hotel delivery robots and fitness training mirrors.

A leading developer of AI operating systems, Xiaodu is a key part of Baidu’s AI strategy and has held several rounds of financing so far, giving it a market valuation of around CNY35.5 billion (USD5.1 billion).

But it remains to be seen how well the phone will sell as the mobile phone market is shrinking. Some 280.2 million handsets were shipped worldwide in the first quarter, a drop of 14 percent from a year ago and down 7 percent from the previous quarter, according to market research firm Counterpoint Research.

Editor: Kim Taylor