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STEPX Neo: The First Large-Model-Native Phone Lands at 3,999 Yuan

STEPX Neo: A Phone That's All In on AI

What if your phone wasn't just AI-enabled but AI-native? That's the bet STEPX is making with its first large-model-native intelligent agent phone, the STEPX Neo, launched at a Shanghai event this week. Priced at 3,999 yuan, the Neo isn't another slab with a chatbot app—it's a full-stack rethink of what a phone can be when hardware, OS, and large models are designed together.

Design: Retro-Futurism with a Wink to AI History

The Neo's back panel mixes transparent mechanical flair with five Easter eggs that nod to AI's past. But the real story is sensory: a six-microphone array, a low-power audio perception chip, and the Whisper1.0 pickup algorithm form an auditory system that's always listening—in a good way. There's also a dual-screen setup: the main display plus an independent MiniLED dot-matrix back screen that acts as the agent's dynamic expression space. Think of it as a face for your phone's AI.

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Under the Hood: Step AOS 1.0 and Dual-Domain Memory

The Neo runs Step AOS 1.0, the first agent-native operating system. It integrates long-term memory, task scheduling, and a security architecture that's "trustable, visible, controllable, and reversible." Memory is split into a user domain and an agent domain, keeping your data and the AI's working memory separate. For brains, it relies on the Step large model matrix with a terminal-cloud collaboration: local models handle simple commands and offline tasks, while the cloud takes on complex planning and cross-app decomposition.

An Ecosystem Built for Agents

STEPX also introduced Step Studio, a natural-language development tool for AI-native terminals, and opened up sensor, back screen, and protocol capabilities. On stage, Bilibili creators showed off a flight skateboard assistance system and a brain-computer interface that turns thoughts into speech. Meanwhile, the Step Amoo agent has integrated with nearly 100 partners—Alipay, Tencent (WeChat Work, WeChat Reading), Xiaohongshu, Ctrip, Didi, Gaode, Meituan—enabling AI payments and A2A cross-agent collaborative editing.

Pricing and Availability

The Neo comes in carbon black and silicon silver, priced at 3,999 yuan. Buyers get 12 months of 10 billion tokens per month. The first 10,000 users who meet task criteria will receive "Starship Tickets," which let them exchange the current model for a new STEPX terminal at zero cost within five years. Pre-orders started the evening of October 13, with official sales beginning October 16.

Key Points

  • Price: 3,999 yuan for the STEPX Neo, available in carbon black and silicon silver.
  • Hardware: Six-microphone array, low-power audio chip, Whisper1.0 algorithm, and a MiniLED dot-matrix back screen.
  • OS: Step AOS 1.0 with dual-domain memory (user and agent) and a "trustable, visible, controllable, reversible" security model.
  • AI Architecture: Terminal-cloud collaboration—local models for simple tasks, cloud for complex planning.
  • Ecosystem: Step Studio dev tool; integrations with Alipay, Tencent, Xiaohongshu, Ctrip, Didi, Gaode, Meituan.
  • Perks: 12 months of 10 billion tokens per month; first 10,000 eligible users get "Starship Tickets" for a free future device exchange within five years.
  • Timeline: Pre-orders opened October 13; sales start October 16.