There has been a tremendous amount of buzz out of China that Hisense will stop making E INK smartphones and other e-paper-related products, such as the Hi Reader. The company has just discontinued its TMall page, where all of its phones were listed, and there is a message about terminating its products. However, their flagship JD store continues to operate.
In China, Tmall is undoubtedly one of the critical sales channels for major mobile phone manufacturers, and it is unlikely to take the initiative to shut down under normal circumstances. So this also means that Hisense mobile phones may be almost one step away from disappearing from the public eye. The concept of E INK mobile phones has yet to allow Hisense mobile phones to survive the winter of the smartphone industry after all.
In the past few weeks, major Chinese message boards such as Tieba and the Hisense Fan Club have all concluded that Hisense is exiting the E INK market. They cited increased competition from dedicated e-readers that are half the price. Everyone expected Hisense to announce new phones for 2023 at the company’s signature event on May 11th, but they just focused on televisions and other household products.
Hisense was the only company since the Yotaphone focused on smartphones with e-paper displays. If it is true that they are abandoning this segment, there will be a tremendous gap in the industry. What happens to everyone who has a Hisense phone? Will the company continue to issue firmware updates? Introduce new features and enhancements?
I have always been a fan of Hisense in the smartphone market. Their phones worked on major carriers in North America and Europe. They supported English, and users could install their own Android apps. It did not have Google Play Services or the Google Play Store, but this is parred the course since China was the market they focused on.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
