Chinese EV maker Nio releases a smartphone it expects at least half of its users to buy

cnbc.com:

SHANGHAI — Chinese electric car brand Nio on Thursday released an Android smartphone, which the company expects at least half its users to buy, CEO William Li told CNBC in an exclusive interview ahead of the launch.

The phone, priced from around $900 to $1,000, is an Android device that's about $150 cheaper versus a comparable Huawei phone, Li said in Mandarin.

He told CNBC that among Nio users from which the company makes a profit, more than half are iPhone users, while the other half uses flagship Android phones from Huawei and other brands.

«I believe this portion of users are very likely to use this new form [of device] when they are changing their phones,» Li said according to a CNBC translation, citing the phone's overall performance and car connectivity.

Nio is the first high-end Chinese electric car brand to release its own smartphone, which Li said the company developed in about a year. Electric car companies in China have sought to make in-car entertainment and mobile phone connectivity a selling point for their vehicles.

Swedish electric car maker Polestar, which counts China as a major market, told CNBC earlier this month it plans to launch a phone in December.

Smartphone companies Apple and Xiaomi have long been reportedly working on their own cars.

Less than two years ago, Huawei released the Aito brand, which sells electric cars in China that are integrated with the smartphone company's operating system. Huawei also sells its in-car software to other electric car companies such as Avatr and BAIC's Arcfox.

That connectivity allows drivers to sync their personal device settings — such as for music — with the car. Nio also has a standalone mobile app.

While the new Nio device resembles a typical smartphone,