Nio CEO William Li previously said that the company's first smartphone model will be launched in the third quarter.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Nio's (NYSE: NIO) first smartphone has been granted a license to access the Internet in China, the last major process that needs to be completed before the device can be sold in the country.

The Nio device received the license on July 10, which is valid until July 10, 2025, according to a filing on China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology website.

The smartphone's model number is N2301, and it is powered by Android and supports 5G as well as dual-SIM cards, according to the information.

Its production address is Xiangtan, Hunan province, and the specific OEM is unknown.

In China, for major smartphone players, the release of a new phone is usually about a month away from getting a network access license.

In late March 2022, Nio founder, chairman, and CEO William Li confirmed that the company would be getting into phone making, saying that one of the key things that drove the company's decision was the fact that the experience of car owners increasingly relies on a seamless connection between the phone and the vehicle.

Nio was looking at phones and car-centric smart devices for user benefit and experience, he said at the time.

On November 15 last year, Li said in an internal presentation that the decision to launch a phone was based on 5-10 years of long-term strategic thinking.

Nio's first phone model will be released in the third quarter and deliveries will begin in the same quarter, Li said on April 1 this year during a forum on China's electric vehicle industry.

Nio unveiled the new ES8 at its Nio Day 2022 event on December 24, 2022, and an introductory image of the model shows two cell phones in place of the second-row center armrest.

The wireless charging pad can wirelessly fast-charge two phones simultaneously at 40 W, according to Nio.

Nio phone received its radio approval certificate in China on June 19, and information at the time indicated that the device will support 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G network formats, as well as UWB (Ultra-Wide Band), a key feature when using the phone as a car key.

NIO completes key regulatory process for its 1st phone model