Supplier landscape

Compared to the other four assistive products (spectacles, hearing aids, prostheses and wheelchairs), the publicly available research on the Chinese digital assistive product market is limited. Overall, 9 digital assistive product suppliers responded to the survey. Among them, 6 offer screen readers, 5 provide AACs, 2 produce phones and 4 supply alternate input devices as well as navigation and wayfinding tools. The data indicate that most manufacturers operate on a smaller scale with fewer than 50 staff and have limited exposure to LMICs. These manufacturers do not focus on producing a single type of digital AT but typically offer a diverse range of products.

There are no significant geographical clusters or regional initiatives for digital assistive product production. Limited available data indicate that these products are mainly manufactured in tier-1 cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Hangzhou.

Digital assistive products manufacturers that participated in the survey are listed below:

Table 14: Survey respondents for digital AT

Company Introduction LMIC footprint Type Quality
Huibang (Shenzhen)
  • Annual revenue: Not available
  • Annual revenue to LMICs: Not available
  • Staff number: Not available
  • Planning to expand
  • AACs
  • Screen readers
  • Smart phones
  • Navigation tools
  • ISO 9001
LL Vision (Beijing)
  • Annual revenue: < US$1 mn
  • Annual revenue to LMICs: Not available
  • Staff number: 51- 200
  • <20 countries
  • Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Cambodia, India, Iran, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, among others
  • AI subtitle spectacles for persons with hearing impairment
  • ISO 9001
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KeAn (Guangzhou)
  • Annual revenue: US$1-US$5 mn
  • Annual revenue to LMICs: < US$0.5 mn
  • Staff number: 1- 50
  • <20 countries
  • Mongolia etc.
  • AACs
  • Screen readers
  • Alternate input devices
  • ISO 9001
Qiming (Shenzhen)
  • Annual revenue: < US$1 mn
  • Annual revenue to LMICs: 0
  • Staff number: 1- 50
  • None
  • Screen readers
  • None
Yuanfangboai (Beijing)
  • Annual revenue: < US$1 mn
  • Annual revenue: to LMICs: 0
  • Staff number: 1- 50
  • None
  • Screen readers
  • Smart phones
  • ISO 9001

Another 7 digital AT suppliers participated in the 2023 China International Care and Rehabilitation EXPO, where interested buyers could explore their product offerings.

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Table 15: Additional digital AT suppliers that participated 2024 China International Care and Rehabilitation EXPO

Company Digital product Website
Huawei (Shenzhen) Phones https://consumer.huawei.com/en/sustainability/information- accessibility/
iflytek (Anhui) Speech- text and text- speech https://www.iflytek.com/en/about-us/csr.html
Jumaoyuan (Beijing) Screen readers http://jumaoyuanbj.com/col.jsp?id=111
Nanhe Technology (Shenzhen) Phones http://www.nanhotech.com/
Rejoin Technology (Hangzhou) Screen readers https://www.rejointech.com.cn/
Shunde F.L.K (Foshan) Screen readers Phones https://www.cnflk.com/?lang=en
Sightcare (Hangzhou) Screen readers https://www.crexpo.cn/exhibition/483?cboofs_je=96

According to the WHO, digital assistive technology refers to devices or software that provide practical solutions to individuals with disabilities, enabling improved communication, time management and monitoring [52]. In alignment with this broader definition, smartphones have gained prominence due to their portability, multifunctionality, and integration of advanced accessibility features [53]. In recent years, many leading Chinese smartphone suppliers have already been making efforts to develop smartphones tailored for assistive purposes. Given the significant market penetration of made-in-China smartphones in LMICs, it would be beneficial if more persons with disabilities in these countries could access the products.

Among the Chinese smartphone suppliers available in LMICs, Huawei and Honor are leading the way in accessibility feature development. Since 2017, Huawei has introduced features such as screen readers, voice-to-text capabilities, and AI-powered tools [54].

The company announced in 2024 that its accessibility features have reached almost 8

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million users globally [55]. Honor developed several features such as “screen reading”, “AI subtitle” and “Hearing aids as earphones” and announced in their ESG report that monthly almost 1 million users access these functions. Other suppliers, such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Transsion, are launching models or systems with accessibility features but detailed user numbers are not publicly available.

All the features work specifically with each phone's proprietary operating system, and any phone model equipped with the system can access them. For example, across different suppliers, phone models ranging from US$80- US$130 could already have these features.

Table 16: Accessibility features introduced by Chinese smartphone suppliers

Supplier Year Key accessibility features
Honor [56] [57] 2022
  • Screen reading
  • Audio reading, allowing users to select the content, reading length and speed
2023
  • AI subtitle
  • Hearing aids as earphones, enabling users to connect their hearing aids to the phone
Huawei [58] 2017
  • Screen reading
  • Enable Google screen reader “Talk Back” installation
2019
  • Visual assistant app, enabling offline text magnification, recognition, and text-to-speech. Featured 6 reading modes, allowing users to choose based on their visual impairment level
2020 [59]
  • AI subtitle
  • Face-to-face transcription, converting live conversations to text
  • Smart vision and voice Assistant, enabling objects identification and translation by talking to the phone
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2022 [60]
  • AI voice repair feature
  • Obstacle recognition function, providing voice feedback and vibration alerts about the obstacle distance and type
  • Personalized hearing assessments by Huawei TWS earbuds, targeting elderly or moderately hearing-impaired individuals, analysing hearing abilities across different frequencies and enhancing voices accordingly
2023 [61]
  • Enhanced text-to-speech functionality, allowing users to create custom and highly human-like voices
2024
  • Image and environment description features, leveraging AI to identify and describe surroundings.
  • Smart Q&A, allowing users to ask questions while taking photos to determine if the desired object is within the frame or to learn about their immediate environment.
OPPO 2017 [62]
  • Personalized Colour vision adjustment
  • Speech-to-text feature
2021
  • ColorOS system, integrating 22 accessibility features for visual-impaired people such as “Talk Back” screen reader and color enhancement
2024[63]
  • Voice-to-text feature
Transsion [64] 2023
  • Text-to-voice feature, leveraging NLP10 solution
Planning
  • AI voice technology platform capable of supporting multiple local African languages
Vivo 2019 [65]
  • Voice assistant, enhancing speech recognition accuracy and response speed
  • Colour correction
  • AI subtitle
2021
  • Voice-to-text feature

10.Note: Natural language processing.↩︎

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2023 [66]
  • “Vivo Sight” AI visual aid - conduct environmental description, photography assistance and object search for visual-impaired people
  • Enable Google screen reader “Talk Back” installation
  • upgraded its sound recognition and interpreter systems
2024
  • Upgraded Sign Language Translator feature, enabling better sign language learning and interpretation
  • Recognition and speech synthesis of multiple languages and regional dialects [67]
Xiaomi 2018
  • Accessibility App Zone, allowing users to easily find and access relevant apps [68]
  • Face recognition with voice prompt
2020 [69]
  • AI subtitle (Xiaomi Wensheng App) and AI calling
  • Voice command phone, enabling over 20 common gestures like swipe up, long press and click to be controlled by voice. Digital tags can also be put on phone by voice.
2021
  • Sound recognition feature, enabling environment sounds such as alarm, doorbells, notification be converted text. The feature is further incorporated in Xiaomi IoT services such as surveillance camera and sound speaker
2022 [70]
  • Further developed AI-empowered inclusion system and improved the sound, image and speech recognition, phone assistant and voice control.
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