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) |
|
|
|
|
| LL Vision (Beijing) |
|
|
|
|
| KeAn (Guangzhou) |
|
|
|
|
| Qiming (Shenzhen) |
|
|
|
|
| Yuanfangboai (Beijing) |
|
|
|
|
Another 7 digital AT suppliers participated in the 2023 China International Care and Rehabilitation EXPO, where interested buyers could explore their product offerings.
42Table 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
43million 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 |
|
| 2023 |
|
|
| Huawei [58] | 2017 |
|
| 2019 |
|
|
| 2020 [59] |
|
| 2022 [60] |
|
|
| 2023 [61] |
|
|
| 2024 |
|
|
| OPPO | 2017 [62] |
|
| 2021 |
|
|
| 2024[63] |
|
|
| Transsion [64] | 2023 |
|
| Planning |
|
|
| Vivo | 2019 [65] |
|
| 2021 |
|
10.Note: Natural language processing.↩︎
| 2023 [66] |
|
|
| 2024 |
|
|
| Xiaomi | 2018 |
|
| 2020 [69] |
|
|
| 2021 |
|
|
| 2022 [70] |
|