A leaked image circulating on Chinese social media on Wednesday suggests Nio is preparing a new companion smartphone — and that the device may extend across the Group’s three vehicle brands rather than remain exclusive to the premium Nio marque.
The branding visible at the top of the image reads “乐道 Hyson” — pairing the Onvo Chinese name with what appears to be a product designation.
The accompanying Chinese-language slide carries the marketing copy: “Inheriting the Skyline DNA. Distilling warmth and futuristic aesthetics. Fully expressing the Nio style.”
The image, first surfaced by Weibo accounts focused on Chinese tech leaks, shows seven phone with a color palette that includes black, light blue, orange, lime green, lavender, lilac, and a darker grey-blue.
The lime green and the lavender tones match Firefly’s signature playful color identity, used since the brand’s launch to position Firefly distinctly from Nio’s more restrained palette.
The orange shade matches the Onvo L60’s hero launch color, which has remained closely associated with the family-oriented sub-brand since its September 2024 debut.
The darker blues and greys are consistent with the established Nio marque palette.
What the Posters Said
The leak was posted by several Weibo accounts over the last 48 hours.
One of them — named “科技头条” (Tech Headlines) — is a digital blogger account with 4.22 million followers on the platform.
“Nio Auto NIO Phone 2nd generation? @William Li — this phone design looks pretty interesting,” the user wrote before commenting on the AI integration.
“If positioned as a companion AI terminal for Nio vehicles, it could not only sync with the car but also dock/integrate with it. Rather than competing head-on with phone manufacturers, this should be a solid direction in the AI era — and an inevitable path for automakers.”
Background
Nio became the world’s first Chinese EV maker to launch its own smartphone when it unveiled the original Nio Phone at the Nio IN 2023 Innovation Technology Day in September 2023.
Sales began the following day, with first deliveries on September 28, 2023.
The device was positioned not as a mass-market competitor to Xiaomi or Huawei, but as a premium ecosystem product for Nio EV owners.
Li set the strategic tone at launch.
“I believe many of our competitors will learn from our smartphone innovations and I welcome them to do so,” the CEO said at the time, adding that he expected at least half of Nio owners would buy one.
The phone was developed in roughly one year.
The first-generation device shipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, a 6.81-inch Samsung curved AMOLED 2K display with 1–120 Hz refresh rate, a 5,200 mAh battery with 66 W wired charging, and a triple 50 MP camera setup.
It carried an IP68 rating, UWB and Bluetooth for an ultra-precise digital key, and a dedicated NIO Link physical button on the side for instant car controls.
Pricing started at 6,499 yuan ($890) for the 12 GB + 512 GB Performance variant, climbing to 7,499 yuan ($1,030) for the EP Edition.
The phone supported more than 30 vehicle-specific functions, including remote summon and self-parking commands, control of more than 60 in-car functions, and a special low-battery mode that allowed the paired Nio car to be unlocked for up to 48 hours even when the phone was dead.
NOMI voice assistant integration ran on both the phone and the car.
The 2024 Refresh
Nio launched a second-generation Nio Phone on July 27, 2024 at its annual technology event, upgrading the device to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor while maintaining the same pricing structure of 6,499 to 7,499 yuan.
The 2024 model introduced a 6.82-inch quad-curved “dome” screen, 80 W wired charging, and upgraded 48/48/50 MP Sony camera sensors.
It also debuted Sky Window 2.0, a faster mirroring system between the phone and the car, alongside an enhanced NOMI GPT in-car AI assistant.
Speaking to reporters at Nio IN 2024, Li framed the second-generation device as part of a broader strategic identity, South China Morning Post reported at the time.
“We hope our new products and technologies will help consumers better understand Nio,” Li said. “Nio envisions building itself into a developer of smart technologies.”
The Apple cadence ambition had been set years earlier.
“What NIO has to do is very simple, is to build a good mobile phone for its users, and develop a mobile phone every year, just like Apple,” the CEO said in 2022, before the first phone had even launched.
The strategic rationale was clear.
“Mobile phones are now the most important device for Nio users to connect to the car,” Li said in early 2023.
He cited Apple’s restrictive UWB interface as a competitive disadvantage that had pushed Nio toward developing its own device.
“Apple is now very close to the automotive industry. For example, the second-generation platform of Nio comes standard with UWB, and Apple does not open the interface, which makes us very passive,” Li said at the time.
Cross-Brand
The original Nio Phone and its 2024 refresh were both Nio marque-only products, available only to owners of vehicles from the premium brand.
Onvo launched in September 2024 with the L60 sedan and has since added the L90 SUV, while Firefly entered the market in 2025 with a small premium hatchback aimed at urban younger buyers.
The framing also fits Li’s articulated long-term identity for the company.
The 2024 Nio Phone launch positioned the device as evidence that Nio was becoming “a developer of smart technologies” — not just a vehicle manufacturer. A cross-brand companion phone deployed across Nio, Onvo, and Firefly would extend that thesis from a single premium device to a Group-wide AI hardware ecosystem.
The timing of any potential launch remains unclear.
Nio has historically used its mid-year Nio IN technology event to unveil new phone hardware, with the original launching in September 2023 and the second-generation in July 2024.
A 2026 announcement at a similar event would maintain the Apple-style annual cadence Li has publicly committed to since 2022, though the company did not unveil a new phone in 2025.
