A outstanding product supervisor in China’s smartphone trade has joined Li Auto, sparking hypothesis that the carmaker might comply with Nio and make telephones.
(Picture credit score: CnEVPost)
A outstanding determine in China’s smartphone trade has joined Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI), sparking hypothesis that the carmaker might comply with Nio (NYSE: NIO) and make telephones. Nonetheless, this was denied.
“Many buyers and customers have requested if Li Auto goes to make telephones as some expertise from cell manufacturers have joined us. The reply is that there are not any such plans,” Li Xiang, the corporate’s founder, chairman and CEO, mentioned on Weibo in the present day.
Over the previous eight years, at the least 15 p.c of the expertise on Li Auto’s groups, together with R&D and operations, has come from cellphone manufacturers, he mentioned.
Li Auto’s recruitment of expertise from the cellphone trade just isn’t a latest transfer, with prime expertise from the cellphone trade being a key underpinning of the corporate’s capabilities, Li mentioned.
Earlier this month, there was widespread dialogue in China’s tech sector concerning the departure of Violet Track, a product supervisor at cellphone model iQOO, a sub-brand of smartphone large Vivo.
Track, who beforehand labored at Huawei, joined Vivo in 2019 as a product supervisor at iQOO and led the launches of a number of new telephones for the model.
(Violet Track. Picture from her Weibo)
China’s smartphone trade is dominated by male executives, and new product launches hardly ever see feminine product leaders launching merchandise. Track’s a number of product launches have shortly made her one of the vital talked-about folks within the trade in China.
On September 15, native media outlet Wuhan Morning Publish reported that Track had joined Li Auto.
That got here simply as Li Auto’s native counterpart Nio was about to launch its first smartphone and start previewing the gadget, sparking hypothesis that Li Auto may also be launching its personal cellphone.
Nio launched the brand new EC6 in a lower than 16-minute launch occasion on the night of September 15, and a cellphone was featured a number of instances within the first 50 seconds, elevating suspicions that this could possibly be its upcoming first cellphone mannequin.
Earlier in the present day, Nio introduced that it is going to be internet hosting a Nio IN 2023 occasion in Shanghai on September 21, beginning at 9 am Beijing time, the place it should debut the corporate’s full-stack know-how structure and can unveil a brand new cell web product.
Nio did not specify, however the cell web product is meant to be its first cellphone mannequin.
Nio to carry innovation day on Sept 21, its 1st cellphone anticipated to be launched
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