New LeEco Le 2/Pro not launching in India on May 3rd, but there's something else

By Abhinav Pathak on Apr 26, 2016 06:29 AM

When LeEco started rolling out invites for its May 3rd event, most thought that the company was going to launch its latest Le 2, Le 2 Pro and Le Max 2 smartphones in India there. But the company later clarified that those devices will not be launched at this event but instead LeEco may announce its Make In India initiative.

In our conversation with LeEco India, the company clearly stated that they have begun the certification process for the new Le 2 devices and they will be launched soon.

So what is LeEco launching on May 3rd?

LeEco will reveal its strategy for India on its May 3rd event especially with a word on its Make in India initiative and setting up R&D centers in the country.

The company has already announced plans to setup retail stores in India and is going to that further with support for the government's Make In India and Digital India initiatives.

In an interview with IANS, Liu Hong, Vice Chairman and co-founder of LeEco said:

We have already applied for the single-brand retail licence with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). The ministry for communications and information technology has given us options like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Raipur’s electronic cluster, Bhopal and Bhilwada (Rajasthan) to set up our manufacturing base. We will evaluate all the options before finalizing our manufacturing location.
India has some of the best software engineers in the world. We will start with our research and development centre in Bengaluru. We would like to connect the Indian technology with our ecosystem and create products for the global users. We will make our ties more stronger.

Alongwith manufacturing in India, the company may also announce a budget variant of the Le 1s. A couple of our sources have confirmed the existence of a LeEco smartphone priced under Rs. 8000 with a metal construction and slightly under-clocked processor.

Although at present there is no word on the new LeEco smartphone specifically built for India, but we will keep our eyes and ears open for any tidbit.