Shanghai (ZXZC)- Chinese EV startup NIO plans to launch its first smartphone next year with the delivery commence in the same year, according to a local media outlet, citing a post on a blogger's Sina Weibo account.

The blogger disclosed that NIO originally intended to unveil its first smartphone by the end of this year. The launch has been postponed as the company strives for a higher-end position.

As of press time, the information has not been confirmed by NIO yet.

According to the corporate information platform Tianyancha, NIO Mobile Technology Co., Ltd. was incorporated on August 4 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of NIO NEXTEV Limited. The newborn company features a line of businesses including sales of communications facilities, mobile terminal equipment, wearable intelligent devices, and AI-enabled hardware. Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of NIO, assumes as its legal representative.

A local media channel reported in early August that former senior vice president of Meitu Mobile, which operates a smartphone business under Chinese photo and video editor Meitu, had already joined NIO’s smartphone team as the head of its software department.

"NIO's smartphone team has more than 300 people with employees from such companies as OPPO, Meitu and Huawei,” the report revealed, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Besides, NIO also released quite a few jobs related to the smartphone business via its recruitment website, including Android engineers and smartwatch product managers.