ByteDance’s Doubao AI phone resumes sales after regulatory rumors

Summary

Chinese outlet 36Kr reports that the Doubao AI smartphone—developed around ByteDance’s Doubao AI assistant and sold via a Nubia-branded collaboration model M153—has resumed sales after a brief pause. ZTE’s official mall has reopened F-code reservation channels for the device, restoring full purchase eligibility. The restart follows viral rumours that ByteDance had been summoned by regulators over network security, data protection and competition concerns, which sources later called unfounded. The episode underscores how quickly regulatory anxiety can buffet AI hardware experiments in China, especially when they blend a social-media giant’s models with always-on mobile devices. For ByteDance and partners like ZTE, the resumption is a relief, but it also signals that highly personalised, AI-centric phones will operate under an especially sensitive regulatory and public-opinion lens.