Former Lenovo Mobile head and Xiaomi Group vice-president Chang Cheng has reportedly left the company. The tech guru had joined Xiaomi in January 2020 leaving his former position as Lenovo’s VP and head of the mobile division.

In an official statement to NetEase Technology, Xiaomi officially confirmed the exit of Cheng. The statement also revealed that he left for personal reasons and that the company understood and respected personal wishes.

Cheng was officially announced to have joined Xiaomi by Lei Jun on the first working day of 2020. His job schedule involved mobile phone product planning. At that time, Chang Cheng had expressed elation that joining Xiaomi is the most beautiful expectation. However, the recruitment wasn’t without any controversy.

After Cheng was unveiled by Xiaomi, Lenovo had issued a statement saying that the company and all executives have signed a non-compete clause. The company then applied for labor arbitration. It is reported that in October of that year, the Labor Dispute Arbitration Committee announced the ruling on the case where it was decided that Cheng will continue to perform the non-compete obligation and pay 5.25 million yuan liquidated damages for breaching the non-compete obligation.

In response, Chang Cheng’s attorneys issued a statement that they would file a lawsuit with the court against the ruling, which has not yet come into effect due to the appeal.

It was reported recently that Xiaomi’s founder and chairman Lei Jun had retired from the company but he was quick to issue a statement that there was just a readjustment in the board which saw him step down as the head of the electronics division.

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Last month, Xiaomi split its POCO brand into an independent entity and recently the company launched the Redmi K30 4G smartphone in the Indian market as POCO X2.

When the brand was split from the parent company, it was believed that the POCO brand will be focused towards the Indian market. However, it has now been confirmed that the POCO will be launched in China as well.

Chang Cheng, the newly joined Vice President of Xiaomi, has confirmed that the POCO brand will debut in China. He has revealed this in response to a user’s question on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo.

Poco India General Manager C Manmohan had emphasized that the split between Poco India and Xiaomi wouldn’t affect Poco’s existing philosophy which is summarized in the brand’s slogan – “everything you need, nothing you don’t”.

EDITOR’S PICK: Opinion: If Poco X2 turns out to be a rebranded Redmi K30, I’ll be disappointed

He had also said that “Poco will get a product team of its own, a sales team of its own, and a marketing team of its own.” But for now, Poco will continue to utilise the established presence of Xiaomi.

Initially, the band is aiming to cater to the online space, though it is open to establishing offline channels over time. Manmohan revealed that the company wouldn’t sell its future devices through Xiaomi-exclusive Mi Home stores, though.

C Manmohan also confirmed that POCO will continue its philosophy of launching value-for-money smartphones despite not knowing the price segments in which it will launch its new devices. He also didn’t completely refute the reports suggesting there are multiple Poco phones in the works, hinting that new phones are coming.

UP NEXT: As POCO X2 launches, POCO F1 production stops; gets pulled off Mi.com

(Source)

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Today, Chang Cheng, who recently joined Xiaomi from Lenovo as a vice president, hosted a poll on his Weibo account asking users with which company should Xiaomi collaborate for the camera sensors.

He had listed out three companies — Canon, Nikon, and Hasselblad along with the fourth option that was for “No one”. Currently, Hasselblad is leading the list with most votes — 1,930. In comparison, Canon and Nikon have received 1,059 and 269 votes respectively.

With camera being one of the crucial department for smartphones, device manufacturers are now collaborating with camera sensor manufacturers to have an optimised camera sensor for their devices.

Nokia has been partnering with ZIESS since long time for their camera sensors while Huawei is also collaborating with Leica for its flagship smartphones. Xiaomi has also recently partnered with Samsung for the 108-megapixel camera sensor, touting the Mi Note 10 as the world’s first smartphone to have such high megapixel sensor.

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However, do note that this is just a poll by Chang Cheng of Xiaomi and it does not mean that the company will indeed partner with any of this brand for camera sensors. It seems like this is just to gauge the user’s perspective.

For those who are unaware, Chang Cheng joined Xiaomi as Vice President earlier this month. Prior to that, he was the Head of Mobile Division at Lenovo, the company where he worked for about 19 years.

Soon after his announcement of joining Xiaomi, Lenovo released a statement that could possibly entangle the former VP in legal constraints. Lenovo says that Chang Cheng joining Xiaomi technically breaches the non-compete contract.

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Previously, we had reported that Lenovo’s former Vice President and head of Lenovo Mobile China, Chang Cheng, announced his decision on leaving the company. After working in Lenovo for 19 years, the senior executive had supposedly retired (due to familial reasons) but today we learned that he has officially joined Xiaomi, its competitor.

The news came as a surprise as Lei Jun, Co-Founder and Chairman of Xiaomi Group, welcomed Chang Cheng as the new Vice President of the Chinese tech giant. However, Lenovo has now released a statement that could possibly entangle the former VP in legal constraints.

According to Lenovo’s statement, all employees working with the company have to sign a non-competition agreement; this means that former employees are under a contract to not enter into a competition of any kind with the employer after the employment period has ended. Hence, Chang Cheng, the former VP of Lenovo, joining Xiaomi technically breaches the contract.

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Lenovo Group’s response states that if a violation in the breach is confirmed, the company will be seeking a recourse within the legal frameworks. In other words, there is a chance of a lawsuit being filed against Chang Cheng if he does not comply with the terms and conditions of breaching a non-competition agreement. The terms and conditions in question will either convey a monetary figure being paid to Lenovo and will most likely have him agree to a non-disclosure agreement regarding Lenovo’s operations.

Notably, a lawyer from a Beijing firm has pointed out that the competition agreement does not fall under mandatory signing. Hence, it will have to be confirmed if both parties have signed the contract. If Chang Cheng is found having has signed a non-competition agreement, he is liable to pay compensation in a fixed amount as stated in the agreement for the violation.

UP NEXT: Xiaomi stays true to its promise; sends out 100 Mi TVs to celebrate 10M sales

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A couple of days ago, Chang Cheng, Lenovo’s Vice President and Head of Lenovo Mobile China announced his departure from the company which he joined around 19 years ago. It is said that Chang Cheng had resigned from Lenovo on December 18, the same day Liu Chuanzhi retired.

Surprisingly, Chang Cheng has now joined Xiaomi as a Vice President. Earlier today, Lei Jun, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Xiaomi confirmed the same by welcoming him to Xiaomi as the Vice President of Xiaomi Group.

EDITOR’S PICK: Huawei reports 850 billion yuan in revenue this year; smartphone shipments reach 240 million units

In his new role, Chang Cheng will be responsible product planning related to the company’s smartphones. Subsequently, Mr. Cheng also confirmed his appointment at Xioami through a post on his Weibo account.

He had joined Lenovo in the year 2000 as the Director of Research and Development of the notebook business unit. In 2011, he was appointed the Vice President of Lenovo Group and the General Manager of the mobile end-to-end software platform. Later, in June 2015, he became CEO of ZUK mobile brand.

Under Chang Cheng, Lenovo struggled in the highly competitive smartphone market and couldn’t grab significant market share. He had been under tremendous pressure to deliver results. His departure from Lenovo was cited because of personal health issues and spending more time with the family. However, that doesn’t seem to be case given that he has now joined Xiaomi in the same role.

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The Lenovo S5 was announced back in March. The phone got a lot of flak as it came with less-powerful specs compared to the Redmi Note 5 it was touted to take on. Six months later, it appears we will be getting a Lenovo S5 Pro.

If you are familiar with Weibo, you should know the social media site usually reveals the name of the phone used to make a post. We discovered that the phone used by Lenovo’s VP, Chang Cheng, to post the teaser for the phone with four rear cameras launching next month is the Lenovo S5 Pro.

This is the only proof of the Lenovo S5 Pro’s existence at the moment and we totally have no idea of what it looks like or what its specs are.

The Lenovo S5 has a 5.7-inch FHD+ display, a Snapdragon 625 processor, up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. It also has dual 13MP rear cameras, a 16MP front-facing camera, and packs a 3,000mAh battery. We expect the S5 Pro to have a more powerful processor, a bigger battery, and maybe better cameras but not necessarily a bigger display.

READ MORE: Lenovo Flexible phone with bendable screen officially teased in a video

With respect to the S5 Pro’s processor, we do not think Lenovo will go with the Snapdragon 636 or higher since the Lenovo Z5 already has a Snapdragon 636 chipset. We are guessing it will come with MediaTek’s Helio P60 chipset which is a significant upgrade when compared to the Snapdragon 625 and closer to the Snapdragon 636 in performance.

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ZUK, the subsidiary of Lenovo which focused on offering affordable flagship smartphones, has been inoperational since quite some time. However, there were rumours suggesting that the company could launch a new phone — ZUK Z3 later this year.

Now, Chang Cheng, who was the chief executive officer at ZUK, has teased a new smartphone on Chinese microblogging website Weibo. He has posted an image of a metal-bodied smartphone with a reflective finish. The back panel of the phone has a curved design.

What’s interesting about the image posted is that the phone features Lenovo branding and not the ZUK branding. This could mean that the phone is a product of Lenovo’s portfolio. But nothing has been confirmed yet. Currently, there is no information available regarding this teased phone.

Recently, Chang Cheng, who is a Vice President of Lenovo Group, got transferred to the company’s MBG (Mobile Business Group) China. He is now responsible for the product organization, research, and development work in the country. This news also sparked rumours about the brand’s return.

Last week, there were rumours suggesting that the Lenovo sub-brand could make a comeback in April this year with its much delayed ZUK Z3 phone. This was reported after a discussion about the ZUK Z3 phone on Weibo and then some posters appeared with a message of April 23, which many started believing as the date when the company could announce a new product.

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The last smartphone announced by the company was ZUK Edge, which features a 5.5-inch Full HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass on top. It is powered by quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor along with 4GB/6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. The phone packs 3,100mAh non-removable battery and with the recent price-cut, it costs 1799 Yuan (approx. $264).

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China’s Sohu reports that Lenovo Group’s VP Chang Cheng has just been transferred to the company’s MBG (Mobile Business Group) China and he will now be responsible for the product organization, research, and development work in the country. Don’t be surprised if you find this name familiar, as he has been in the news in the past couple of years as the CEO and co-founder of the popular ZUK sub-brand of the Lenovo group. Chang has been popular among tech media specially because he was never shy to talk or reveal renders of ZUK products before launch.

According to an internal mail, Chang has been entrusted with the responsibility of Lenovo and Motorola brand’s product planning management in China along with China Mobile Software ecosystem development. He will report to Qiao Jian, President of Lenovo MBG China.

Prior to this Chang Cheng was acting as the CEO of ZUK, a brand focused on the young generation with flagship like smartphones for an affordable price tag. ZUK was established back in December 2014 and ZUK’s first smartphone, the ZUK Z1 was released in August 2015. The company used its own Android based ZUI platform in China. However, around April in 2017, the company announced that the ZUK brand was no more. But ZUI continues to live, inside Motorola smartphones released and sold in China.

Ever since news about the ZUK brand shutting down, there have been rumors about its resurrection. In fact, Chang Cheng did seem to hint last year that a ZUK Z3 could be in existence. We haven’t heard anything about a new phone from the ZUK brand since, but his transfer as Lenovo’s Product Planning Manager in China sparks new rumors about the ZUK brand’s return.

(Source)

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