Smartisan designed phones competitors couldn’t manufacture at scale

Smartisan was founded in 2012 by Luo Yonghao, a former English teacher turned internet celebrity. Its first phone, the T1, won an iF Gold Design Award in 2014, but production delays meant many customers waited months. The company prioritised novel industrial design over supply chain practicality: the T2 used a stainless steel frame welded to the antenna that was difficult to manufacture, and its USB-C port was not yet widely available from Chinese component suppliers. Each model shipped late, and the small order volumes gave Smartisan little leverage with suppliers.

By late 2018 Smartisan had accumulated approximately ¥600 million (US$89 million) in debt. The company could not secure additional funding to continue phone development. Luo Yonghao publicly stated he would not declare bankruptcy and planned to repay creditors through livestream sales and other businesses. In April 2019, ByteDance (owner of TikTok) acquired Smartisan’s patents and some key employees in an acqui-hire, effectively ending Smartisan’s independent operations.

ByteDance released one more phone under the Smartisan brand — the Jianguo Pro 3 — in late 2019, then suspended smartphone production in 2021. Luo Yonghao continued repaying his personal debt through livestream e-commerce, becoming one of China’s most prominent influencers on Douyin. The Smartisan story is now studied as a case of design–supply chain mismatch in China’s hypercompetitive phone market.