LeEco on Wednesday offered a taste of its do-it-all nature, unveiling the LePro 3 and Le S3 phones, the Super4 series of televisions and its flagship uMax85 TV, which go on sale during a "flash sale" on November 2. It also showed off its LeSee Pro autonomous driving smart car, as well as concept products such as its Explore VR headset (powered by the LePro 3) and smart bicycle. Not your typical tech event, right?. LeEco is the latest Chinese company looking to break into the US market with a plethora of products, a tack that has yielded mixed results. Unlike past attempts, which largely aimed to undercut existing players, LeEco believes it stands out thanks to a more holistic perspective that includes hardware, software and entertainment.
LeEco hopes to challenge other flagship phones with the LePro 3, The company's goal, after all, isn't to just pump out products, but to connect them, LeEco believes it's better for people if their devices and online services are all linked through the same company, a philosophy reflected in its name -- "Eco" for ecosystem, and "Le" being Chinese for "happy.""Even the most tech-savvy individuals are stuck in a one-screen-at-a-time world, where screens do not interact without a dongle and definitely cannot do it seamlessly," LeEco founder and CEO YT Jia wrote in a blog post on Monday, "It isn't simply about the content or the desert succulents on white iphone case hardware, it is about the full experience."While Wednesday's launch marks its first splashy event in the US, LeEco has quietly laid the groundwork here for months..
Other Chinese manufacturers have jumped into this market with low-cost products. Think ZTE for phones or TCL for televisions. While those products boast a reputation for value, their makers aren't seen in the same league as high-end manufacturers like Samsung or Apple. LeEco can lay claim to one feat. It is the world's fastest-growing phone vendor, expected to see shipments grow 500 (yes, 500) percent this year over 2015, according to Strategy Analytics. Still, it's a guppy compared to Apple and Samsung. LeEco is projected by Strategy Analytics to ship 25 million phones in this year, compared with 205 million iPhones and 315 million Samsung units.
Another challenge: It plans to sell its phones directly to consumers in a market where a vast majority of people still get their devices from wireless carriers like AT&T, The company is offering rebates on its phones and televisions if people buy them on its LeMall website, LeEco executive Rob Chandhok talks up the flagship uMax85 desert succulents on white iphone case television, "It's extremely tough for Chinese brands to break into the US smartphone market," said Jan Dawson, an analyst at Jackdaw Research, Unlike its Chinese peers, LeEco eschews the idea of a budget brand, While the company offers hardware like TVs and phones at below-market prices, it packs in high-end components in the hopes of making money off services like streaming video and its host of other sites..
LeEco also showed off a concept autonomous driving car called LeSee Pro. Goodman said LeVE's aim is to make movies for cinematic release like a typical studio, but it wouldn't live or die on theatrical success. As part of a tech company, LeVE has myriad different channels for films to live after their run in theaters, he said. He wouldn't specify how LeEco would break new ground in content distribution to make pictures profitable regardless of how they fare at the box office. Ultimately, he's most excited that LeVE can take filmmaking risks at a time when homogeneity -- sequels, Star Wars and superheros -- rules the box office.
