TikTok Parent Company, ByteDance, Developing Its Own Smartphone

The company behind the hit app TikTok may now be looking to through its hat into the smartphone space.

ByteDance, the Chinese company behind TikTok, officially announced Monday that it would be expanding from software into the hardware space, beginning with smartphones. To do this, it would be leaning on the work done by the Beijing-based device maker, Smartisan Technology, with whom ByteDance signed a deal with earlier in the year.

The deal saw ByteDance purchase multiple patents filed by Smartisan who, according to a spokeswoman, had been working on its own phone for months.

“The product was a continuation of earlier Smartisan plans, aiming to satisfy the needs of the old Smartisan user base,” the spokeswoman told Reuters.

This is supported by a report from Chinese financial news outlet Caijing, which revealed that the phone had been in development for nearly seven months. The efforts had been led by former Smartisan exec Wu Dezhou, who has since moved over to ByteDance to oversee the continued development. Several other execs from Smartisan also moved over to ByteDance around the same time as the patent purchases, though this was described as “normal flow of talent” by ByteDance.

This is just the latest move by a company that has reportedly risen to rival Chinese tech companies like Baidu and Tencent in regards to their influence.

ByteDance already has apps in China, like Douyin, that have been massive successes while TikTok has grown in popularity in the United States. ByteDance has also been investing in more spaces not related to social media, including JukeDeck, a startup in London that specializes in A.I.-generated music.