Li Auto denies rumors it's working on a smartphone

Li Auto, a Chinese electric car manufacturer, recently hired some talent from the smartphone industry, which sparked speculation that the company is looking to enter the smartphone market as well. Similar to Nio, which is about to announce its first smartphone on September 21. And it shapes up to be a flagship handset too.

However, Li Auto's CEO Li Xiang clarified that the company has no plans to launch a smartphone. It's too busy working on cars. The fact that the firm hired some high-profile talent from the smartphone industry isn't anything new for Li Auto. In fact, the CEO and founder said that about 15% of the team hired in the last eight years comes from the smartphone industry.

The most recent hire of Violet Song, a former product manager at iQOO, is the reason for the latest rumors. She worked at Huawei before joining vivo in 2019 as a product manager for its sub-brand iQOO. So we can see why everyone is talking about her joining Li Auto.

Via