ByteDance would have developed its own smartphones

The Beijing-based technology start-up ByteDance, the parent company of popular applications TikTok and Toutiao, plans to develop its own smartphones, according to the Financial Times. Previously, the company had confirmed that it had hired the talent of Smartisan, a smartphone startup, and acquired some of Smartisan's patent rights.

Smartphones preloaded with its own applications?

If ByteDance actually develops its own smartphone, it will probably make one with its applications, just as Facebook and Amazon have pre-installed their phones with their applications, just like the popular Meitu Chinese selfie app. However, none has seen remarkable success: Facebook and Amazon stopped making their own phones and Meitu sold its smartphone business to China's largest smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi last year.

ByteDance builds a portfolio of social networking products

ByteDance extends its reach into the social media landscape in China. In January, the company launched a video messaging application called Duoshan, which incorporates the features of TikTok and Snapchat. Users can use a range of filters and special effects when sending messages. Images and videos are available for 72 hours.

The latest development, in May, was the launch by ByteDance of Feiliao, an instant messaging application that also hosts forums based on the centers of interest. The application has the same functions as the most popular social media application in China, WeChat, with the difference that it seeks to create communities based on common interests.

While details of ByteDance's incursion into computer hardware are still unclear, the company's broad user base could be an excellent target market. At the launch of Duoshan in January, ByteDance's management said the monthly active users of its TikTok short video application had exceeded 500 million. And these customers spend more time on the application: according to the Chinese mobile data services company QuestMobile, the time spent on ByteDance applications in the first half of 2018 went from 3.9 to 10.1% of the time total devoted to mobile applications. % in the period of the previous year. That said, to date, the number of ByteDance-like companies that launch their own phones indicates that ByteDance could be facing adoption problems by consumers.