ZTE bets its future on Doubao?

ZTE’s mobile phone business is returning to the public eye. On July 8, Ni Fei, ZTE Senior Vice President and President of the Terminal Business Unit, confirmed on social media that its subsidiary Nubia will launch an AI smart phone and will make its first public display at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (hereinafter referred to as "WAIC"). Ni Fei said that the device is a mass-produced flagship model. The day before, at the press conference of the Shanghai Municipal Government, Tang Wenkan, director of the Shanghai Municipal Economic and Information Technology Commission, also mentioned when reporting on the preparation progress of WAIC that the world's first AI smart phone will make its debut during the exhibition. Huxiu learned from a relevant person at ZTE that before the launch of this AI smart phone, the mobile phone business layout had completed a round of adjustments. Specifically, the Nubia brand will fully undertake the bean bag mobile phone business in China and sell it mainly through online channels together with the Red Magic; the ZTE brand will mainly cooperate with telecom operators to customize models, among which the brand that cooperates with China Mobile is "ZTE Changxing" and China Unicom is "ZTE Yuanhang"; overseas markets are mainly operated by the Nubia brand, and gaming phones will also be included in the Nubia brand system. In this regard, as of the time of Huxiu's publication, ZTE has not responded to this. If this adjustment is finally implemented, it means that ZTE Mobile is not simply preparing to release a new AI product, but is re-planning its terminal business role. ZTE's parent brand will return to the basics of operators and customized phones, Nubia will assume the domestic open C-end and AI mobile phone narrative, and the Red Magic will be included in the larger Nubia system. For ZTE, this is a more realistic "division of labor", especially after the domestic mobile phone market has been marginalized for a long time. ZTE mobile phones were once the beneficiaries of the era of customized mobile phones by operators. During the 3G era, relying on operator subsidies and channels, ZTE, Huawei, Coolpad, and Lenovo were collectively known as the "Chinese Cool Alliance" and once occupied an important position in the domestic smartphone market. However, after entering the 4G era, operator terminal subsidies have ebbed. Xiaomi's Internet mobile phone model and OPPO and vivo's offline channel system have reshaped industry competition rules. ZTE's mobile phone popularity in the domestic open market has gradually declined. In 2018, ZTE encountered sanctions and provided