The Nio phone will be officially launched in late September and will be a flagship Android-powered phone that is very recognizable from the back, according to local media.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Nio's first phone model is finally not far away from its launch, with the device having previously completed the necessary regulatory processes in China.

The Nio phone will be officially released in late September, and customers will be able to use a small portion of the Nio Credits they have for its purchase, a report from local media outlet Yiche said today.

Nio Credits are a form of Nio's user rewards system, and can be used to make purchases at the Nio Life online mall or for vehicle-related services, with one credit equivalent to RMB 0.1.

The Nio phone will be a flagship Android-powered phone that is a great value when used as a backup by iPhone users, the report said, citing Nio founder, chairman and CEO William Li in a group chat.

The Nio phone has a great feel in the hand and is very recognizable from the back, Li said.

The device has strong performance, doesn't make users feel hot while holding it and has a long standby time, Li said.

In terms of connectivity with cars, the phone had a mediocre experience in connecting with Nio's NT 1.0 platform-based models, mainly due to limitations of the vehicle hardware.

But the device has a great experience when connecting with the latest NT 2.0 platform-based models and has access to a number of innovative apps, Li said in the group chat.

At the end of March 2022, Li confirmed that Nio 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 is increasingly dependent on a seamless connection between the phone and the vehicle directly.

In terms of user benefit and experience, Nio needed to study cell phones and car-centric smart devices properly, he said at the time.

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

The Nio device was granted a license on July 10 to access the Internet in China, which is valid until July 10, 2025, a regulatory filing showed.

The smartphone has the model number N2301 and is powered by Android with 5G support as well as dual-SIM, according to the filing information.

In early August, local benchmarking company Antutu revealed the core specifications of Nio's first phone model.

The Nio phone that appeared in Antutu's database was equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC (system on chip) with 12 GB of RAM built-in as well as 1 TB of storage.

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