Le Max vs. iPhone 6: Pictures of the two smartphones were displayed during the press launch of Le Max in Beijing. (Photo : Global Times)
Leshi Internet Information and Technology Corp., also known as LeTV, launched its flagship smartphone Le Max at a press event Wednesday.
LeTV, a Chinese online video provider, further intensified the competition in China's smartphone market with the launch of Le Max.
In an invitation sent to a news company, the logo of its bigger rival Apple Inc. is split into four pieces.
It sparked off market speculation that the company aims to keep pace with Apple's wildly popular iPhones.
During the event, several executives from LeTV compared the 6.33-inch Le Max with Apple's 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus.
The executives are claiming that Le Max is better in terms of design, resolution and user experience. They backed these claims with all sorts of performance tests.
Feng Xing, president of Le Mobile & Information Technology (Beijing) Co, LeTV's smartphone arm, said that the LeTV smartphone will change the current industry landscape with the advantage of its ecosystem--an integration of self-owned contents, sales channel and hardware.
"Apple helped people enter the era of smartphone, while LeTV will usher them into the era of ecosystem," Feng said.
However, an industry analyst thinks LeTV faces an uphill battle to challenge the position of Apple.
"But comparing Le Max with iPhone is an effective way of winning instant publicity," said Wang Jun, an industry analyst with Beijing-based market research firm Analysys International.
LeTV's founder Jia Yueting said that Leview Mobile, an affiliate of LeTV's parent company Le Holdings, has become the second-biggest shareholder of Coolpad Group, a Hong Kong-listed wireless solutions and equipment provider.
“LeTV is expected to tap the distribution network and after-sales capacity of Coolpad,” Jia said in a press release.
The Coolpad Group also runs its self-branded smartphones in the Chinese market.
The launch of Le Max comes at the rear of its competitors Huawei and Meizu, which released their new smartphones on Tuesday.
Wang added that it is hard to tell which players will survive in the end, as Chinese smartphones do not have distinctive features.
"Though a latecomer, LeTV may have the chance to gain a position among the pantheon of great smartphones with its edge in online contents," he noted.
Le Max, boasting a bezel-free display and fingerprint sensor technology, will be priced at 2,999 yuan for the 32GB model. The smartphone will be out in the market starting July 7.
