Nio's first smartphone will feature a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display from Samsung Display, for which the company has orders for just 50,000 pieces, according to local media.

(A phone suspected to be the Nio phone that was seen at the launch of Nio's new EC6 on September 15.)

Nio (NYSE: NIO) is expected to unveil its first phone model tomorrow, and a new report hints that the first available batch of the device will be small.

Nio's first smartphone will feature a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display from Samsung Display, for which the company has orders for just 50,000 pieces, local tech media outlet ijiwei said in a report today, citing a supply chain source.

The screen has a resolution of 3,088*1,440 with a peak brightness of 1,750 nits and supports an adaptive refresh rate of 1-120 Hz, according to the report.

Nio announced yesterday that it will be hosting a Nio IN 2023 event in Shanghai on September 21, starting at 9 am, where it will debut the company's full-stack technology layout and will unveil a new mobile internet product.

The electric vehicle (EV) maker didn't specify, but the mobile internet product is supposed to be its first phone model. Nio co-founder and president Qin Lihong mentioned on September 4 that the company would launch its first phone on September 21.

On September 15, Nio unveiled the new EC6 in a launch event that lasted less than 16 minutes, and a phone appeared several times in the first 50 seconds, raising suspicions that this could be its upcoming first phone model.

The manufacturer of the Nio phone is Hunan-based Lens Technology, as indicated by the China Compulsory Certificate (CCC) certification the device received earlier this month.

Lens Technology has long supplied Apple with lenses and related glass components for devices such as the iPhone. It is also a core supplier to Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and has been supplying it for more than two years.

The Nio phone supports fast charging with up to 100 W of power, according to the certificate, which was issued on September 15.

Nio's phone will be the world's first to be truly designed for cars, an approach that has no precedent before, William Li, the EV maker's founder, chairman, and CEO, said in an interview with local automotive media outlet Cheyun, according to the text of the interview released September 16.

Li said the Nio phone has some innovations in terms of interaction with vehicles, and it is definitely a phone designed for Nio owners.

In an interview with the China Entrepreneur magazine late last year, Li said the Nio phone is not meant to compete with Huawei or Xiaomi.

If half of Nio's users buy the Nio phone, it will have reached the desired goal, Li said at the time.

Nio delivered 19,329 vehicles in August, bringing its cumulative deliveries since inception to 383,908, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

Nio phone will be world's 1st smartphone truly designed for cars, says William Li