LeEco has announced that its Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jia Yueting has become the Chairman of the Board and the Nominating Committee of Coolpad . This news comes after LeEco acquired 11% stake of the telecommunication equipment vendor Coolpad, to become its largest shareholder with a total of 28.9% stake.
Both the companies will jointly introduce a new smartphone called the Cool 1 on August 16 at an event in Beijing, they confirmed on weibo . The smartphone will come with dual rear cameras and feature a fingerprint sensor on the back. The phone is rumored to pack a 5.5-inch Quad HD screen, powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor, come with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, run Android 6.0 Marshmallow and pack a 3,500mAh built-in battery. It also surfaced on TENAA recently.
Jia said LeEco and Coolpad will adopt a dual-brand strategy, where the two brands co-exist and target at different market segments. The two will also collaborate extensively in resources sharing, business development as well as technology research. The dual-brand strategy will be applicable to LeEco and VIZIO as well for the development of TV ecosystem, following the US$2 billion acquisition of the pioneering American TV manufacturer on July 26th.
LeEco said that it has sold 700,000 units in India in six months. LeEco said that the Cool 1 smartphone is designed for the youth generation.