At IFA 2018
today, Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) unveiled the HUAWEI AI Cube, a
two-in-one speaker and 4G router with Alexa built-in, marking its official
entry into the nascent smart speaker market. It represents a new, more natural
and convenient way for consumers to connect to the internet and control smart
devices, while delivering high quality audio in a compact form factor featuring
a minimalist design.
With support
for Wi-Fi on 4G LTE, HUAWEI AI Cube can fulfill the myriad connectivity demands
arising from the smart home. Setup for the router is easy and intuitive—it only
requires a 4G SIM card plugged in to establish a high-speed internet connection
at LTE Category 6 speeds (300Mbps downlink). HUAWEI AI Cube is also compatible
with the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard, meaning the router is dual band, capable of
working on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels and transmitting data over LAN at up to
1,200Mbps.
HUAWEI AI Cube
also features Alexa built-in, enabling users to effortlessly play music,
control smart home devices, and access more than 50,000 skills – hands-free.
All you need to do is ask.
“The Huawei AI
Cube combines several products into one while balancing smart functionality
with high-quality sound,” said Pete Thompson, Vice President of the Alexa Voice
Service. “We’re excited to see Huawei bring customers in Europe
a natural way to play music, control smart home devices and access thousands of
skills.”
In terms of
speaker performance, HUAWEI AI Cube is built with a large, 400ml sound cavity
and an aluminum diaphragm, enabling the AI speaker to produce high quality
audio with crystal clear midrange and highs, as well as full, rounded bass. The
audio is also enhanced with Huawei’s proprietary audio solution: HUAWEI Histen.
Also featured on a range of Huawei devices, HUAWEI Histen enriches the AI
speaker’s set of features by including virtual bass, linear phase equalizer,
adaptive gain control, far-field voice recognition and more as part of its
repertoire.
All
the aforementioned technologies supported on the HUAWEI AI Cube are packed in
small matte white body with a seamless 3D mesh base. Moreover, the AI speaker
is designed in a way that the ports are hidden underneath the base, allowing it
to blend in with any home decor easily.
According to
market analyst firm Canalys, the global install base of smart speakers is set
to more than double in size to reach 225 million units by 2020[1]. This massive
opportunity is underpinned by a strong market interest for this category of
products, particularly in the China China
Alongside the
HUAWEI AI Cube, Huawei also launched HUAWEI Locator, a powerful small form
factor location beacon supporting long operation and standby times as well as
four major global navigation satellite system (GNSS) standards, namely GPS,
GLONASS, Galileo and Beidou. Compatible with nano SIM and eSIM, the device
supports global roaming with near-real-time location reporting and provides a
host of services including SOS button, Geofence and BLE Found, a proximity-based
service that triggers a buzzer alarm on HUAWEI Locator when a paired smartphone
is within 10 meters from the device. Built as a rugged, multi-purpose device,
HUAWEI Locator has an IP68 rating which makes it perfectly suited for any type
of activity, indoors or outdoors.
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