This is the first hardware play for the Chinese tech company. The phone will be preloaded with ByteDance’s own apps. The company’s TikTok video service is the most downloaded app on Apple’s App Store. ByteDance also has a workplace collaboration app called Lark and a messaging service called Feiliao. The apps have large user bases in India, the U.S. and China. (Financial Times)

Talking point: Chinese companies are ramping up their efforts to be self-sufficient as the U.S. makes it increasingly hard for them to do business. The Donald Trump administration has labelled Huawei a threat to national security, causing Google and chipmakers Intel and Qualcomm to cut the company off from using their products in its devices. The White House is reportedly considering banning other major Chinese tech companies like Hikvision, the world’s largest producer of video surveillance technology. ByteDance’s large user base in Asia may not be enough to make its hardware push successful. Many major internet companies have sought to launch devices. In 2013, Facebook launched Facebook Home, an android app meant to replace the smartphone home screen; it came pre-installed on the HTC First. The phone flopped on its launch in 2013. Amazon’s foray into smartphones was also unsuccessful—its Fire phone was pulled one year after its launch in 2014.