Creator of TikTok is reportedly making a smartphone

There could be a new smartphone player in the market soon according to the Financial Times.

Two sources told the publication that ByteDance, the creator of video app TikTok, is building its own smartphone. The device is said to be preloaded with ByteDance's apps such as the news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, TikTok, and an unreleased music streaming service.

It is apparently a dream of ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming to build a smartphone full of preloaded apps. Earlier this year, ByteDance acquired a patent portfolio and hired some employees from phone maker Smartisan.

The Financial Times did not offer details on the design of the phone or its target markets, but any attempts to launch a phone by the Beijing-based company is likely to run into opposition from the U.S government which is currently engaged in a trade war with China.

This article was first published in Hardware Zone. 

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