We might witness a dirty legal battle between two Chinese giants, after Lenovo’s head of smartphone division, Chang Cheng joined rival Xiaomi as a Vice President.
Chang has been with Lenovo since 2000 and has worked across iconic projects such as the first Yoga tablet, the Z5 and Z6 smartphones, and even the ZUK division, which made affordable flagships. He later went on to head Lenovo China’s smartphone unit. He’s known to promote his products on Weibo and engage with fans frequently.
On 31st December 2019, he posted, “Everything you love is very likely to be lost. But in the end, love will return in a different way”, before announcing his resignation from Lenovo citing personal family reasons. Just two days later, Xiaomi’s Lei Jun posted a group picture with Chang and the other co-founders, making the move official and disclosing his role as a Vice President, overseeing the mobile phone product planning.
Xiaomi saw its market share drop to 9% in China for the third quarter of 2019, according to Canalys. That is still significantly higher than Lenovo’s sub-1% market share since 2017. “[Chang] has a deep understanding of the industry and rich operating experience in the field of consumer electronics. I believe that under his leadership, our mobile phone product planning will be more forward-looking and closer to users’ needs and provide stronger support for the mobile phone business.”, said Lei Jun about the new hiring.
However, this shift came with its fair share of controversy, as Lenovo claims that Chang’s move was not permitted as per his contract. All executives are made to sign a non-compete agreement, disallowing them from joining any rival companies. Sources close to Xiaomi defended the move stating that he was not paid any related compensation. If there indeed is a breach of terms, Lenovo will proceed to take legal action. Regardless, it remains to be seen which products he will work on.
