On July 27, 2026, the Caixin Roundtable AI event "The Next Stop of the Terminal Industry in the Agent Era" was held in Beijing. The event brought together economists, industry researchers, and technology experts to discuss how AI agents are systematically reshaping the terminal industry and the prospects of the personal AI terminal market.
Terminal Industry Enters a New Cycle of Value Reshaping
2026 is considered the Year of the Agent, with AI evolving from a simple command-response tool to an autonomous system. At WAIC 2026, agents and AI hardware became hot topics. Wang Zhe, Senior Economist and Research Director at Caixin Insight, noted that the AI industry is at a critical turning point, shifting from model capabilities and computing infrastructure to application scenarios. Zhang Wenkui, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, emphasized the need to smooth the link between basic research, applied development, and commercialization to promote the integrated development of smart terminals and agents.
Agents: New Opportunities for Terminal Industry Development
IDC China Vice President Wang Jiping presented the whitepaper "From AI Devices to Personal AI: Agent-Driven Terminal Evolution and Industry Restructuring," commissioned by Qualcomm and independently researched by IDC. The whitepaper analyzes the current market and explores the core features, value potential, and implementation paths of "Personal AI." Wang Jiping pointed out that the AI super cycle is pushing the terminal market to a "tipping point." While terminal manufacturers face pressures like rising prices and declining upgrade willingness, AI terminals are becoming the biggest growth highlight. At WAIC 2026, signals indicated that agent terminals are accelerating commercial deployment, with more AI-native devices emerging. Wang Jiping emphasized that innovations such as cross-app task execution, agent-native systems, and new immersive interaction forms are all centered on personal AI experiences, supported by high-performance, low-power heterogeneous computing and cross-device connectivity.
Building the Foundation for Personal AI at Scale
Qualcomm product technology expert Zhu Yukun shared insights on terminal innovation in the agent era. He cited the IDC whitepaper, stating that Personal AI must have three core capabilities: personalization, always-on sensing, and privacy security. The traditional computing architecture is undergoing systematic reshaping, with perception, memory, reasoning, and tool execution becoming the foundation for future agent experiences. End-cloud collaboration is essential for leveraging the advantages of both cloud and terminal to achieve truly personalized and efficient agent AI. Zhu Yukun emphasized that all devices will become endpoints of agents, and creating a user-centric personal AI experience is a common industry goal.
To support such agent capabilities, the industry needs a new generation of terminal computing architecture for agent workloads, achieving system-level coordination of computing, sensing, and connectivity. Zhu Yukun introduced Qualcomm's full-stack AI solution for the agent era, including the Qualcomm AI Engine with Oryon CPU, Adreno GPU, Hexagon NPU, sensor hub, and high-speed memory, providing heterogeneous computing for optimal performance and energy efficiency. Qualcomm's unified AI software stack helps model developers and application developers deploy and optimize AI capabilities on Qualcomm platforms, accelerating AI innovation from concept to scale.
From Technology to Experience: How Agents Reshape Personal Terminals
In a roundtable discussion, Wang Jiping, Zhu Yukun, Zhou Sen (Chief Hardware Engineer at Rokid), and Kazik (founder of Digital Life Kazik) discussed how agents are reshaping next-generation personal terminals. They agreed that the core of the terminal industry is shifting from hardware to AI itself. Zhu Yukun noted that AI will first change interaction methods, then drive the evolution of operating systems and computing architectures. Kazik emphasized that a truly understanding agent requires real-world context, and terminals will continue to play an indispensable role. Zhou Sen added that smart glasses, with their seamless interaction and multimodal sensing, will become an important entry point for personal AI. Wang Jiping pointed out that the computing power distribution of AI terminals is evolving from all-cloud to a three-tier architecture (end-edge-cloud), with different levels handling different tasks for optimal experience and cost. Zhou Sen stated that breakthroughs in innovative AI terminals like smart glasses depend on continuous optimization of computing power, power consumption, and battery life. Zhu Yukun believes that the technical foundation for on-device agents is largely in place, and the key to future development lies in industry ecosystem collaboration, enabling agents to freely flow around users, continuously learn, and proactively serve.
From Vision to Reality: Building the Future with Innovation and Ecosystem Collaboration
From smartphones to PCs, smart glasses to wearables, the role, form, and boundaries of personal terminals are being redefined. Qualcomm has proposed the "Ecosystem of You" vision, aiming to create a more natural, continuous, and personalized intelligent experience through high-performance low-power computing, on-device AI, advanced connectivity, and open ecosystem collaboration. Qualcomm will continue to work with terminal manufacturers, model partners, and application developers to accelerate the innovation and large-scale deployment of personal AI, delivering a trustworthy intelligent experience and driving the sustainable development of the personal AI industry ecosystem.