A few days ago, it ws reported that LeEco India had laid off a large percentage of its staff. The lay off was interpreted as a sign that the company would soon be leaving one of the major smartphone markets in Asia. The company has however issued a statement saying otherwise.

Although the Chinese manufacturer didn’t dispute the layoff, but it says it has no plans to leave as “India is one of the most strategic markets for LeEco”. It even added that it is preparing for the launch of its next generation TV in the country.

A company representative also revealed to Reuters that there are 80 employees at the moment, down from about 350 at the end of last year.

LeEco’s woes started when the content of a memo written by CEO, Jia Yueting was made public. The memo warned of an impending cash crunch caused by a rapid expansion at an “unprecedented rate”.

A former employee who also spoke to Reuters said he had resigned after six months because the letter left him discouraged. The unnamed ex-employee said “I joined the company in mid 2016, and there were a lot of promised projects in the pipeline. The projects were all stalled and that got me worried”.

READ MORE: Two New LeEco Phones with Dual Cameras Seen at TENAA

If LeEco isn’t going anywhere, it is still evident that it has scaled back on its operations massively. The small team on ground is probably just for the sake of product releases like its smart TVs, bluetooth speakers, and headphones.

(Source, via)

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LeEco had a big event in India today, wherein it launched two of its updated smartphones, namely Le Max 2 and the Le 2 in the market. This will be the second generation LeEco devices in the Indian market, and these two phones will succeed Le Max and Le 1S models which were announced a while back. Like expected, the company won’t be releasing the Le 2 Pro in the region.

LeEco has priced the Le Max 2 and Le 2 aggressively in India. The Le 2 is priced at just Rs. 11,999 which comes to just around $180. This is pretty close to the phone’s price tag in China, which comes to $170. But what’s interesting is that the Le 2 that is sold in India will be powered by the Snapdragon 652 chipset, instead of the Helio X20 that powers the Chinese variant.

Also, like we mentioned in the launch article in April as well as our review of the Le 2 and Le Max 2, both the devices don’t come with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. Instead, the company has placed its bet on the CDLA lossless music standard that works via the USB Type-C port. You can purchase the USB Type-C headphones at Rs. 1990 which comes to around $30.

Other specs of the device remain the same. So, the Le 2 comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of non-expandable storage, 16MP rear camera, and 8MP front shooter. You get a 5.5-inch 1080p display on the front and inside, a 3000mAh battery. With Snapdragon 652 on board, this becomes the cheapest device with this octa-core chip. Definitely makes it a powerful handset in its price category.

Coming to the Le Max 2, the phone comes is priced at Rs. 22,999 ($345) for the 4GB RAM + 32GB version and Rs. 29,999 ($449) for the 6GB RAM + 64GB version. In case you are wondering, these prices, especially for the 6GB RAM version, are a bit higher than the Chinese pricing. In China, the Le Max 2 4GB RAM variant comes for around $324 while the 6GB RAM version retails for $386.

To recap, the Le Max 2 comes with the mighty Snapdragon 820 quad-core chip inside with a 21MP rear camera, 8MP front camera, 5.7-inch QHD display and 3100mAh battery with fast charging. Do check out our reviews of both the devices to see how they perform in real life.

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LeEco unveiled three new smartphones in April, namely Le 2, Le 2 Pro and Le Max 2. All three phones offered best bang for your buck, which meant that everyone is patiently waiting for the phones to be available in the international markets. Now, LeEco (formerly known as LeTV) has started sending out media invites for an event on June 8 and it is safe to assume that it should be for the India launch of the three new smartphones from the company. While the invite doesn’t say anything about the launch of these three models, the timing is ideal for the new phones to be launched in the market.

LeEco phones are extremely popular in China as well as India, selling out within minutes. In the first sale of the three phones, over a million units were sold out within a matter of two hours in China. That’s pretty impressive! Now, it looks like the company is all set to unveil these three power phones in India and expect a pretty good response for them in the country.

RELATED: Le Max 2 vs ZUK Z2 Pro vs Xiaomi Mi 5

To recap, all these three phones ditch the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack and instead uses a CDLA standard that works with the phone’s USB Type-C slot. Why this change you ask? Well, LeEco believes USB Type-C powered headphones are the future, and it wants to be the first one to make the jump. And guess what, iPhone 7 is rumored to ditch the standard slot as well!

Specs wise, the Le Max 2 stands on top of the lineup, featuring the mighty Snapdragon 820 quad-core chip with 4GB / 6GB RAM options and 32GB / 64GB storage variants. There will be a 5.7-inch QHD display on board with a 21MP rear camera and 8MP front shooter. You can read more about the specs of the three devices from our launch coverage.

We are not quite sure whether we’ll see all the three smartphones and their versions launched in India, but let’s wait for more details.

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LeEco, formerly known as LeTV made its official entry in India earlier today with three important smartphones, namely Le 1S, Le Max and the Le Max Sapphire Edition. While the first two are quite aggressively priced, the Sapphire Edition will reportedly cost a lot in the country, even beating the iPhone 6S in terms of pricing.

All the three models were already announced in China, so in terms of specs, there are no surprises. Hence, let’s directly take a look at some India specific details such as pricing and availability before recapping the specifications.

First of all, the Le 1S model will be the company budget offering the country, priced aggressively at just Rs. 10,999 ($161). The phone will be available for purchase via the usual flash sale model on February 2 at 12pm. Users can register for the sale from January 20 6pm onwards until 11AM on February 2.

For a complete review of the Le 1S, check out this article.

As for the high-end Le Max model, the phone will be available for sale on Flipkart on February 16. The 64GB variant will be priced at Rs. 32,999 ($485) and the 128GB variant at Rs. 36,999 ($543).

Finally, coming to one of the costliest smartphones that you can buy in the country right now, the Le Max Sapphire Edition, it will cost you a whopping Rs. 69,999 which comes to $1027. Not cheap, but then, you get the hard to crack sapphire glass on top. The company knows that this is going to be a special product and hence, its available to buy only via invites, that too limited to a total of 1000 units.

Coming to the specs, the Le 1S features a 5.5-inch 1080p display with 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, 13MP rear camera, 5MP front shooter, aluminum body, and a 3000mAh battery. Not at all a bad deal for $161.

As for the Le Max, it comes with a powerful 2GHz Snapdragon 810 chipset with 4GB RAM, 64GB/ 128GB storage options, 21MP Sony IMX230 rear camera, 4MP Ultrapixel front camera, 6.33-inch QHD 2560 x 1440p display and a decent 3400mAh battery.

Further, the company adds that its going to invest a lot in the country this year. LeEco is currently working to build a network of around 555 service stations in India, and a large R&D center with around 1000 employees working on a number of LeEco products like TVs, smartphones and accessories.

Given that LeEco aka LeTV is actually focused on its core business of video streaming, the company has partnered with Eros Film company and live channel provider YuppTV. So, it looks like LeEco, in just one year, will build a strong presence in the country.

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LeEco former known as LeTV has been teasing its entry in India for the past few weeks. Now the wait has almost come to an end for Indian fans as the company will officially unveil two new devices at tomorrow’s event in Gurgaon, India. One of them is the large screen phablet, namely the Le Max with a massive 6.33-inch display while the second one will be the Le 1S, catering to the budget segment.

Both the phones will most likely be sold exclusively via the retailer Flipkart. The e-commerce site recently released a teaser with the silhouette of the two phones, confirming their arrival on the website. Further, LeEco has revealed that the company will customize the new smartphones according to the needs of the Indian consumers. Unfortunately, we still don’t know what the company means by such customizations, but things will get clearer tomorrow.

Apart from announcing these two devices, LeEco will also reportedly reveal more details about its plans in the country including future partnerships. Also, it may showcase the other smartphones at the event that were launched in 2015.

As for the specs, the Le Max flagship comes with a 6.33-inch 2K display with Snapdragon 810 chipset under the hood and 4GB RAM. There will be ample storage on board, thanks to 64GB internal memory. At the back, you will find a 21MP shooter while, up front, there will be a 4MP Ultrapixel camera. As for the software, the phone comes with Android Lollipop onboard with the company’s own skin called EUI on top.

The mid-range Le 1S model,comes with Helio X10 inside with 3GB RAM and 32GB of non-expandable internal storage. There will be a large 5.5-inch display with FHD 1080p resolution and a 3000mah battery onboard. At the back, there is a 13MP camera while you will find a 5MP shooter up front.

Since we already know the specs of both the device, tomorrow’s event will be special in the sense that we will get to know both the device’s Indian pricing as well as what all customizations/ changes the company has made for the India-specific release.

As promised, LeEco will live stream the entire event tomorrow, and you can check that out directly from the youtube video down below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_k3H390nyM

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