TV and smartphone-making giant LeEco unveiled its Super TV, new line of Le 2 Superphones, Le VR and self-driving Super EV in Beijing on Wednesday. The company sees this as one big step forward in its ecosystem strategy.
“Launching four smart device products across four industries at the same time is something that no other company in the world has ever tried,” the founder and CEO of LeEco Jia Yueting said at the launch party.
What came out first was LeEco’s fourth-generation Super TV. This is a 50-inch TV set offered in three versions, the Super 4 X50 for RMB 2,499 (USD 386), the Super 4 X50 CSL Edition for RMB 2,699 and the Super 4 X50 Pro for RMB 2,999. All three versions have an Mstar6A938 processor and Mali T820 GPU, with a resolution of 3840×2160 and contrast ratio of 4000:1.
As said in our earlier story, LeEco sees its Le 2 series smartphone as its second offensive against iPhone. These brave words are backed by the company’s new Continual Digital Lossless Audio (CDLA) technology used in its new handsets, the Le 2, Le 2Pro and Le Max2.
In plain words, CDLA allows LeEco to abandon the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack and Hi-Fi, which, according to the company, is inferior to its Type-C USB port in terms of acoustic fidelity.
The 5.5-inch metal-body Le 2 sports a Helio X20 processor, back-located fingerprint scanner, 3000mAh battery and 3GB RAM plus 32GB ROM. The Le 2 is priced at RMB 1,099. LeEco also introduced the 5.5-inch Le 2Pro, with a Helio X25 processor, which can be seen as an enhanced version of the Le 2, priced at RMB 1,499.
The third smartphone released is the 5.7-inch, RMB 2,099 Le Max2, which sports 6GB of RAM and uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and an Adreno 530 GPU. It has 64GB of ROM and a 3100mAh battery. Its body is even smaller than an iPhone 6 Plus.
And, yes, LeEco has unveiled its VR headset, which can be connected to LeEco’s smartphones, called Le Superphones. But LeEco has not yet announced a price.
Last but certainly not least, LeEco brought out its very first self-driving concept car, the LeSEE Super EV. The car has a large LED display on the front to display vehicle status. The company claims this smart EV can drive and learn autonomously, with new functions including face recognition, emotion recognition, environment recognition and road recognition.
At the launch, Jia used a Superphone to control the car remotely and demonstrate its self-driving function. He says the car has a foldaway steering wheel and can go as fast as 130 MPH. He did not mention the car’s price. You can see the concept car for yourself at the auto show in Beijing next Monday.
“The LeSEE Super EV beats Tesla Model S with faster acceleration from 0-100km/h, more distance per charge and it has a higher speed at its fastest point,” said Jia.
The Le 2 series smartphones are now available for pre-order on the company’s online store LeMall. They will go on sale on LeMall and major e-commerce platforms JD.com and Tmall next Tuesday.
(Top photo provided by LeEco.)
