Noor mahnoor
The 2024 MWC Conference is a feast for the technology industry. In the bustle and bustle of the first day, we witnessed many eye-catching highlights. Tinydeal noticed that mobile phone manufacturers are still keen on seeking new business growth points. Whether it is the “human, car, and home ecology” that Xiaomi is focusing on promoting or the high-end market, we have seen the innovation and vitality of the mobile phone industry. Additionally, AI PC market growth has become a major focus, with manufacturers showcasing the latest advancements in AI-powered computing. As the demand for AI-integrated devices rises, AI PC market growth is expected to play a crucial role in shaping the future of the industry.
Under the AI ​​craze, mobile phone manufacturers are even more ready to try to integrate AI technology into every corner of the mobile phone. From AI assistants to more complex AI applications, to platform-level AI empowerment, mobile phone manufacturers are colliding with AI to create unprecedented sparks.
MWC 2024: If traditional PCs have unified AI wings, sales will take off?
Whether it is the exploration of new business by mobile phone manufacturers or the widespread application of AI technology, the technology industry is heading toward significant transformations. One of the key discussions at MWC 2024 revolves around AI PC market growth and whether it can revive the struggling PC industry. Tinydeals has launched the “MWC 2024” series, and this article focuses on one critical question: Can AI PCs save traditional PC manufacturers?
With the rise of AI, more and more products labeled as “AI+XXX” are emerging. From AI smartphones to AI assistants, these innovations are reshaping the market. Naturally, the introduction of AI PCs at MWC 2024 is not surprising. As manufacturers place their hopes on AI-powered devices, AI PC market growth could be the key to overcoming declining sales and breathing new life into the industry.
Whether it is the exploration of new business of mobile phone manufacturers or the widespread application of AI technology, we have seen important directions in the future technology industry. In this regard, Tinydeallaunched the “MWC 2024” series of topics, and the point around this article is “Can AI PC save traditional PC manufacturers.”
With the rise of AI, more and more products of “AI+XXX” are becoming more and more. In the digital industry, there are many new product positionings, including AI mobile phones, AI assistants, AI digital people, etc. It is currently a hot product in the market, and it is not surprising that the AI ​​PC appears on MWC this time.
PC industry is in a cold winter
When the epidemic broke out in 2020, the rise of home office and online education brought about a wave of small prosperity in the PC (personal computer) industry. However, with the gradual control and unblocking of the epidemic, the global PC market has begun to enter a cold winter since 2022. Data from authoritative statistical agencies Canalys and IDC confirm this.
According to Canalys statistics, the annual PC shipment volume in 2022 was 285.1 million units, a decrease of 16% compared with 2021; and IDC data shows that the annual PC shipment volume in 2022 was 292.3 million units, compared with 2021 Reduced by 16.5%.
In 2023, which had just passed, this situation still failed to improve. Data released by Canalys shows that in 2023, the total global PC shipments were 247 million units, a decrease of 13% from 2022. Although the decline narrowed, it still exceeded 10%, and the IDC figure is also not optimistic. , the total PC sales in 2023 were 259.5 million units, a decrease of 13.9% compared with the previous year.
But behind the bad data, there is also some good news, that is, the performance in 2023 Q4 has begun to gradually recover. Among them, all manufacturers regard AI PCs as the main driving force for sales growth in 2024.
What is an AI PC?
If you like to watch ghost animals on B station, you may not be unfamiliar with the name AIPC. This laptop, which was once popular on major TV stations, has now become a popular material in ghost animals. Of course, the AI ​​PC mentioned here does not refer to it, but the abbreviation of Artificial Intelligence Personal Computer.
According to reports, the concept of AI PC is said to have first come from Intel. In September last year, Intel CEO Pat Kissinger proposed the name in Silicon Valley. In Intel’s view, an AI PC is a PC that can provide AI functions. AI can work closely with PCs through the cloud, or run large language models independently on the computer, thereby fundamentally changing and reshaping the PC’s user experience and releasing people’s productivity and creativity.
After this concept was proposed, many related companies in the PC industry chain such as Lenovo, Samsung, Google and Nvidia all chose to follow up. For a time, some AI processors that integrate dedicated NPUs and AI PCs equipped with them became the focus of the market. At this MWC 2024 exhibition, manufacturers including Lenovo, Asus, Honor and other manufacturers also brought their own new AI PC products, making AI PC a popular product at this exhibition.
Prospects and Advantages of AI PC
Compared with traditional PCs, the biggest difference between AI PCs is that the word “AI”, which also shows that AI PCs will have greater advantages over previous computers in the field of artificial intelligence, especially in large models.
In the past, traditional laptops could also run large language models locally, but they mainly operate through GPU graphics cards. Moreover, the larger the data volume, the higher the performance requirements for the graphics card. Therefore, in order to obtain a good user experience, You must use flagship graphics cards, which is obviously too high for most users who use ordinary graphics cards. Nowadays, as chip manufacturers such as Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm have begun to pay attention to AI, they have all launched AI processors. With the support of the new AI processor, AI PCs emphasize more on the commonly available AI capabilities, which can allow most laptops to run AI applications as well.
In fact, if you compare computing power simply, ordinary AI PCs may not be as good as those traditional high-performance PCs, but at the specific application level, since AI PCs have been specially optimized in terms of AI, they are usually pre-installed for AI functions. Optimized software allows users to enjoy the convenience brought by AI without additional configuration. At the same time, manufacturers can also quantify the large model, so that the requirements for model running heap hardware will be further reduced, thereby reducing the performance requirement.
Having a dedicated NPU module is also a major feature of AI PC. A pre-trained model for large language models and text-generating pictures involves a large number of matrix operations during calculation. If the CPU is used for the operation, the multiplication and addition processes of the matrix need to be split, and the operation efficiency is extremely low. At this time, the GPU needs to improve the speed through a large number of processing units in parallel calculations.
However, after having a dedicated NPU, the situation is different. Through special circuit design, NPU can complete matrix operations at one time, with low power consumption and high efficiency. This is a great thing for products such as thin and light notebooks that have high limit on power consumption. In addition, Intel has also launched NPU and GPU collaborative computing technology, which can bring faster generation speed when running complex large models with controllable power consumption.
From the above introduction, it is not difficult to find that the biggest advantage of AI PC is to make the localization of large models more efficient. This is also one of the biggest highlights of AI PC. Compared with online big models, localized big models have higher security and privacy. In the future, with more and more frequent AI applications, local deployment of big models may become an important function of PCs.
Will AI PC become the wings for manufacturers to take off in sales?
Since AI PC has so many benefits, will it become the password for PC manufacturers to take off in sales? At present, it seems that major PC manufacturers are full of confidence in it.
According to IDC’s latest forecast, AI PC shipments are expected to reach nearly 50 million units by 2024. By 2027, this number will climb to more than 167 million units, accounting for nearly 60% of global PC shipments. This huge number also makes manufacturers have to seize the opportunities brought by this wave of AI.
At this MWC 2024, Lenovo released a series of AI PC products, such as the fifth generation of ThinkPad T14/T14s, the third generation of ThinkPad T16, the second generation of ThinkPad X12 Detachable, and the fourth generation of ThinkBook 14. However, at the previous Lenovo financial report meeting, Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing said that he believed that the popularity of AI PCs will drive the popularization of AI, but at present, AI PCs are still facing problems such as network speed, cost, and data privacy and security. .
Indeed, since AI PC is still a new concept, the prices of related products are more expensive than the original traditional PC, which may affect the sales of manufacturers to a certain extent. In addition, if AI PCs are to be fully promoted, building a complete ecosystem is also an indispensable part.
In the view of Abulikmu Abulimiti, vice president of Lenovo Group and vice president of strategy and business development in China, a mature AI PC should have five major characteristics. First, there must be a personal agent based on big models, and users can interact naturally with it; second, configure the personal local big models and knowledge base to combine it into a personal big model; third, configure the hybrid AI computing power; fourth, can Connecting AI native applications through plug-ins; fifth, there are privacy and data security protection solutions.
Written at the end
Overall, as AI continues to shape the future of technology, the emergence of AI PCs aligns with this development trend. The AI PC market growth has considerable potential, but these devices are still in their early stages. On the one hand, they come with higher prices; on the other, the supporting ecosystem is not yet fully developed. However, in the long run, the AI PC market growth is expected to accelerate, making AI PCs a competitive battleground for manufacturers as they collectively shape the next chapter in the PC industry.
To stay updated on the latest AI PC trends and innovations, visit TinyDeals.
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