Vivo Terminates High-End Smartphone Brand NEX

NEX, a high-end sub-brand of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo, has undergone major changes recently, according to reporting by domestic media outlet Sina Tech on Thursday. In an internal structural adjustment in February this year, Vivo cancelled the NEX division and its subordinate organizations. On the company’s official Chinese website, the tag for the NEX series has been removed. As of Thursday morning local time, Vivo had yet to issue a response to this news.

The NEX series was launched by Vivo in June 2018, positioning itself as a high-end smartphone lineup. Its first smartphone models adopted a pop-up camera design. Later, several models including the NEX Dual Display, NEX 3 and NEX 3S were launched. However, the NEX series came to a standstill, and it has now been nearly two years since the release of the NEX 3S in March 2020.

In fact, in 2021, there were rumors that the NEX series was cut because of the mismatch between investment and sales volume. In an interview in 2021, Hu Baishan, Executive Vice President of Vivo, revealed that the positioning of the NEX series has been changed, and the firm decided to have its iQOO Division explore new technologies.

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Hu previously pointed out that the NEX series has redefined its target consumers and the product itself, and it would release a new product in the first half of 2022. In addition, NEX would aim to launch new products every year. However, with the termination of the NEX Division, future NEX products and its marketing team will be merged into Vivo, which means that the status of NEX as an independent sub-brand will come to an end.

In recent years, many Chinese smartphone makers have aimed at high-end markets, including with Xiaomi‘s MIX series and digital series, OPPO’s FindX series and Honor’s Magic series.