Smartphone shipments in China tanked to their lowest values in over a decade during Q1 this year and the consequences for some brands are now on full display. Gree – the Chinese home appliance giant has now dismantled its smartphone division as the company will formally exit the smartphone market for good.
Gree’s last smartphone launched in 2021 with the Tosot G7 which was a rebadged Meizu 18X. The Gree smartphone division was founded back in 2015 with bold plans to become one of the leading players on the Chinese market. Outspoken Gree chairwoman Dong Mingzhu had lofty claims about the company’s smartphones claiming they were “as good as Apple iPhones” and that Gree would “easily surpass Xiaomi” in the smartphone market.
In hindsight, these claims seemed ludicrous at the time and did not pan out as expected. Still, it’s always sad to see a smartphone brand exit the market.
