LeTV might beat Huawei and Xiaomi to the United States

China’s domestic smartphone companies have been gaining a lot of prestige in recent years, and though most of them are still guilty of blatantly copying their foreign counterparts, the quality of their products has reached the point where they can hold their own against the likes of even Apple and Samsung. There are still numerous obstacles that these companies need to overcome before they can make it big in the United States, however, such as the fact that most Americans are still wary of Chinese electronics and aren’t familiar with Chinese brands, but they’re making progress. Huawei and Xiaomi tend to be the first names that come to mind when talking about which Chinese company will make it big in the United States first, but a third company might beat both of them to the punch with its aggressive expansion: LeTV. 

Over the past few years, China has seen an explosion of domestic smartphone brands. Most have followed more or less in the footsteps of Xiaomi, selling their products online and aiming squarely at China’s growing urban middle class. Letv may be the most successful example; the video streaming company has rapidly branched out into everything from smartphones and smart TVs to electric cars over the past few years. And all that hardware is selling pretty well. Recently, Letv sold more than 500,000 smartphones and more than 350,000 smart TVs in a single day as part of a sales event on its Lemall online store. But Letv’s ambition is to be far more than a domestic smartphone brand. Unlike Xiaomi, which has been slow to expand to Western countries and still doesn’t sell any of its smartphones or smart TVs there, Letv is not hesitant about plunging into the US market. Later this fall, the company will launch its Lemall online shop in the United States. The US market is quite different from China, but Brian Hui – senior VP of Lemall International – told Tech in Asia that the company isn’t worried about the transition. “Our approach to customer service is that we always consider specific audiences’ needs and adapt accordingly,” said Brian. But that clearly doesn’t mean major adaptations. “We’re a global company that doesn’t distinguish between our US and Chinese consumers, and are committed to delivering a high-quality, seamless experiences across all of our devices and platforms, regardless of location,” he told me.