While sharing insights about the Doubao mobile phone system software, blogger @wuxianlin stumbled upon traces of Smartisan's branding within the software. Another blogger, @Bai Zhengming, further discovered that the phone's built-in ringtones included the original Smartisan ringtone, "Midian." It's worth noting that the first nubia M153, which incorporates Doubao mobile phone assistant technology, was a collaborative effort between ZTE and ByteDance. Chengdu Smartisan, the company in question, was founded in June 2017. However, in September 2022, Luo Yonghao, a key figure in the company, relinquished his positions and ventured into AI entrepreneurship. In a recent podcast, Luo Yonghao reminisced about Smartisan's history, mentioning that had they not introduced TNT at that time, the company might have weathered the storm and avoided bankruptcy for a few more years.
