TikTok Maker’s Nex Move May Bring Bad News For Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo And Others

If you thought that there were too many Chinese smartphone brands in the market, then brace yourself for the entry of a new one. As per a report by The Financial Times, Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, is said to be working on a smartphone. The FT report quotes a source who says that Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming “has long dreamt of a phone with Bytedance apps pre-installed” on the smartphones. A lot of Chinese companies have used this ‘model’ of having smartphone pre-installs for their apps.

TikTok isn’t the only app which Bytedance is involved with. There’s Lark, which is a collaboration tool; Felilao, an instant messenger; and there is a music streaming app as well.

Bytedance back in January had acquired patents and employees from phone maker Smartisan, which also is an indicator that the company may soon launch a smartphone.

A Bloomberg report earlier this year had revealed that Bytedance failed to meet its revenue targets for the first time. The move to launch a smartphone will give other Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and others some food for thought. No official word from the company has been heard so far on it entering the smartphone business.

TikTok, meanwhile, was reported to be the most popular app on Apple iPhone and iPad, according to Sensor Tower. In the quarter ending March, TikTok was downloaded 33 million times. Though it wasn’t the most popular app on Google Play Store, it was still downloaded 88.2 million times.

The app has had its fair share of troubles as well. India had put a temporarily ban on the app as it was accused of promoting pornography and other illicit content. The ban, however, was later lifted and the app is now back on both Apple App Store and Google Play Store.―Times of India