Car maker Nio launched its first-ever smartphone in late 2023, it was called simply the Nio Phone. The company has completed the development of its sequel, revealed founder and CEO William Li, but that doesn’t mean the phone is being announced now.
The Nio Phone 2 is entering the manufacturing stage and will be unveiled later this year, though Li didn’t set a particular date. But he did confirm that the company will focus on launching just one new phone every year instead of dividing its attention between several (a lot of new smartphone brands start out this way).
Why is an electric car maker building phones, anyway? “The point is that Huawei and Xiaomi are making cars. This is first a defensive strategy for Nio,” says Li. All modern smartphones can connect to Nio cars, of course, but the best integration is offered by Nio phones.
Nio founder and CEO William Li
And the company is using the handset as a perk when selling new cars – Chinese publication Lanjinger reported that buyers of 2024 model Nio cars get the Nio Phone as a freebie (this promo is valid until the end of March, apparently).
It may not sound like much when you compare the prices of a new EV and a new phone. But it’s a great perk – the Nio Phone can double as your car keys, allowing you to lock and unlock the vehicle, start it remotely and get the climate control system going, so that it’s nice and pleasant inside once you get in the car, regardless of how hot or how cold it is outside.
