What is nubia
nubia is a smartphone and smart-device brand established in 2012 as a wholly owned sub-brand of ZTE and spun out as an independent company in 2015, headquartered in Shenzhen, China. According to Wikipedia, nubia received major investment from Suning in 2016, and ZTE reduced its stake to 49.9% in 2017, making nubia an associate company of ZTE rather than a subsidiary. Official sites are the international store at intl.nubia.com and the Chinese site at nubia.com; ZTE also announces nubia launches under its consumer business.
Business and main product lines
- nubia smartphones: the flagship Z series (models such as the Z80 Ultra, known for under-display camera designs) plus Play and Neo mid-range lines.
- REDMAGIC: a gaming sub-brand launched in April 2018, known for built-in cooling fans; it released its first gaming laptop, the Titan 16 Pro, in July 2024, and the Nova gaming tablet in September 2024.
- Smart devices and accessories such as watches and earbuds; current models live in the official stores.
Discussion in the show
In Weekly #001’s chapter “NAS 会不会成为个人 AI 上下文的家” (Will a NAS become home for personal AI context), the conversation turns to AI phones and vendor lock-in. Xiangyang Qiaomu asks whether the Doubao phone was launching in September, and Guizang replies in the Chinese transcript: “Those nubia ones — this time it’s not called the Doubao phone anymore, it’s just called nubia, going straight toward that ZTE thing.”. The exchange ties nubia to its shareholder ZTE and discusses how closed these AI phones’ systems are; the surrounding remarks were about launch plans at the time, and actual products should be read from official announcements. See the episode 001 chapter; English transcript chapters are not available.
Frequently asked questions
Which country is the nubia phone brand from?
nubia is a Chinese phone brand headquartered in Shenzhen. It was founded in 2012 as a wholly owned sub-brand of ZTE and became an independent company in 2015. See Wikipedia.
What is the relationship between nubia and ZTE?
ZTE founded nubia in 2012; nubia became independent in 2015, and in 2017 ZTE’s stake fell to 49.9%, making nubia an associate company of ZTE with continued brand and channel ties. ZTE’s own site carries nubia product news. See Wikipedia.
What is the relationship between REDMAGIC and nubia?
REDMAGIC is nubia’s gaming sub-brand, launched in April 2018, covering gaming phones, a gaming laptop, and a tablet. See Wikipedia.
What is nubia’s official website?
The international site is intl.nubia.com and the Chinese site is nubia.com.