Research: AI Industry Has Officially Entered Commercialization, Driving New Transformation in Networking and Telecom Sectors

Research firm Counterpoint Research observed after MWC Shanghai that this year's event reflects the AI industry's formal entry into the commercialization phase. The competitive focus is gradually shifting from model capabilities to workflow integration and practical deployment. AI is now beginning to comprehensively impact end devices, telecom operator models, and network infrastructure, driving a new wave of transformation across the entire AI industry chain.

According to Counterpoint Research, the biggest change at MWC Shanghai this year is that AI is no longer just a feature within a single application but is increasingly becoming the core of operating systems and user interfaces.

AI smartphones, AI glasses, AI PCs, and enterprise AI tools are now beginning to rely on AI agents to understand user needs and complete tasks across different applications—such as summarizing meeting notes, real-time translation, information search, or controlling smart devices—significantly lowering usage barriers.

Compared to the past focus on model capabilities, more vendors this year are choosing to launch practical AI products first and then continuously optimize them based on market feedback, reflecting China's AI industry's emphasis on commercialization speed and ecosystem development.

Another notable trend at the exhibition is AI's deeper integration into high-frequency usage scenarios. For example, AI glasses offer real-time translation and visual recognition, smartphones use AI to suggest optimal camera poses, and enterprise AI devices directly integrate meeting transcription, summarization, and workflow management. These products may not showcase the most advanced AI models, but they are more effective at solving everyday user problems.

Sanghoon Kim, Analyst at Counterpoint Research, believes that the competitive advantage of future AI products will increasingly shift from model performance to seamless integration into existing user habits, enhancing work efficiency and platform stickiness.

Beyond end devices, another key topic at this year's event was how telecom operators can create new revenue streams in the AI era. China's three major telecom operators have begun testing AI service models centered on tokens, aiming to move beyond traditional data traffic (byte traffic) monetization toward new business models such as AI inference, AI agents, and enterprise AI services. This strategy aims to prevent telecom operators from becoming mere conduits for AI traffic. However, Counterpoint Research notes that the token-based business model is still in its early stages, with enterprise markets likely to adopt it before consumer markets, and further maturity of application services is required.

As applications like AI agents, smart homes, AI glasses, and robots rapidly evolve, network demands are also changing significantly. Traditional network design emphasized download speed, but AI applications require high-speed upload, low latency, and high-reliability bidirectional communication. Moreover, many AI services still rely heavily on cloud computing, increasing the importance of home broadband, Wi-Fi 7, and future Wi-Fi 8 technologies.

Future AI competition will extend beyond end devices to include network infrastructure and service quality, presenting new growth opportunities for telecom operators, equipment vendors, and the broader networking supply chain.

Taimur Zafar, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research, stated that the most important message from MWC Shanghai 2026 is not the emergence of a new large language model, but the formal entry of AI into a new phase of commercial competition. The key to future corporate competitiveness will no longer be building larger models, but rather how quickly AI can be integrated into end devices, enterprise workflows, and complete ecosystems to create sustainable business value. As AI applications continue to expand, they will simultaneously drive a new wave of upgrades across semiconductors, end devices, network infrastructure, and telecom services.