After two years, three devices and a promising start, Gionee sub-brand IUNI has finally filed for bankruptcy. This marks the death of yet another Chinese company, and while we could’ve seen this one coming from miles away, it’s still painful to see it happen.
IUNI, who popped up at about the same OnePlus did, has been struggling for quite a while now. The company only ever put out three smartphones, those being the IUNI U2, U3 and N1. While the devices were good, they never enjoyed much recognition and were often overshadowed by the competition.
We did hear about IUNI having some troubles a few months ago, but the company’s demise was only recently announced. In an official statement, Shenzhen Hing Wah Building Pericom Technology Co. Ltd., the official parent company of IUNI has blamed the recent industry downturn, internal discord among shareholders, management mistakes and other problems as the source of the company’s bankruptcy.
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For their suppliers, IUNI has prepared to options. Either 1. cash settlement at 50% discount or 2. getting back the unsold smartphones at a cost. Ironically, parent company Gionee is expected to release the Gionee M6 and M6+ in Beijing tomorrow, so while IUNI may be dead, it looks Gionee is still fine for now.
The death of IUNI just goes to show that no matter how good or well received your devices are, if you don’t play your cards properly the cutthroat Chinese smartphone market will cut you down whether you’re just a small startup or a larger company’s sub-brand.
What do you make of this news? Have you ever used a IUNI device? Tell us down in the comments below.
Sad to see one of the good ones from China go. Thier phones and OS were promising but the lady CEO is to be blamed for the wrong direction it went. IUNI U3 was my 1st 2k display phone.
This does just go to show how well OnePlus did it in comparison then…
I was very tempted by the IUNI U3 back in the day but the ‘very Chinese’ Rom put me off at the time…
I think what OnePlus did better than most is they designed the phone with the rest of the world in mind. Whereas brands like IUNI and Zuk design the phone with China in mind and the rest of the world is an afterthought.
Yep and although it was hated a lot at the time (and still is really…), their Invite system did create a large amount of Hype at the time… Enough to get most people to fly through the checkout process at warp speed when they saw that magical email in their inbox with an invite code lol…
The invite system was both good and bad. It created a lot of negative publicity and turned away a lot of people who would have bought the phone. It should have ended after the first month of sales.
OnePlus was smart. They used every possible way to drum up attention for their product regardless of whether it was good or bad.
Everything from good things like being open to modding, having CyanogenOS preinstalled and having an affordable price tag to controversial things like mocking their competitors, launching controversial contests and the dreaded invite system.
Whether the reception was good or bad never mattered, what mattered was that everyone knew about them when they launched their device and that the device itself was decent enough to use, which it was.
Well, R.I.P IUNI, we’ll miss you…maybe :S
This market is hard and violent, no doubt. BTW, what happened to iOcean? probably the same… How does Zopo feel today? like an ‘Hero’? (pun intended)
@api182:disqus yes, so true π
Zopo, UMi and Xiaomi are really the only ones left from that period that aren’t dead or inactive.
ZTE, TCL, Huawei and Oppo as well. Jiayu may or may not still be around, depends on the week. There’s quite a few left from the old days.
,
That bunch has been around for much longer though. Zopo, UMi and Xiaomi popped up very close to each other and were part of that time when the devices were decent and received good recognition but still had to fight the stigma against “made in China” devices. Which was also the time GizChina really started to grow.
That is true but it really wasn’t until around 2011/2012 that they all started to produce really good phones that could challenge those in the west.
I remember my 1st Jiayu running on Lewa OS. Good phone, a lot of potential. Let’s hope they don’t bite the dust like IUNI.
They are very close to that point.
Airyl ignorant.
saw quite less of them π
and we still have elephone, the world we live in -_-
Honestly, I don’t mind Elephone. They’ve matured quite a bit since their really bad devices, and their current phones aren’t all that bad. Have you even seen the first Elephone logo?
in my opinion the maturity that elephone is right now i would feel like a pedophile to like them ill wait for more maturity. but i understand what your saying
I actually agree. I am one of their biggest critics but I have seen growth from them. Their biggest problem is they try to do to much at once. If they could just focus on a few phones they would be much better.
I’m still using U2, good phone but very poor support. This phone deserves for newer Android version.
Sad to see one of the good ones from China go. Thier phones and OS were promising but the lady CEO is to be blamed for the wrong direction it went. IUNI U3 was my 1st 2k display phone.
This does just go to show how well OnePlus did it in comparison then…
I was very tempted by the IUNI U3 back in the day but the ‘very Chinese’ Rom put me off at the time…
I think what OnePlus did better than most is they designed the phone with the rest of the world in mind. Whereas brands like IUNI and Zuk design the phone with China in mind and the rest of the world is an afterthought.
Yep and although it was hated a lot at the time (and still is really…), their Invite system did create a large amount of Hype at the time… Enough to get most people to fly through the checkout process at warp speed when they saw that magical email in their inbox with an invite code lol…
The invite system was both good and bad. It created a lot of negative publicity and turned away a lot of people who would have bought the phone. It should have ended after the first month of sales.
OnePlus was smart. They used every possible way to drum up attention for their product regardless of whether it was good or bad.
Everything from good things like being open to modding, having CyanogenOS preinstalled and having an affordable price tag to controversial things like mocking their competitors, launching controversial contests and the dreaded invite system.
Whether the reception was good or bad never mattered, what mattered was that everyone knew about them when they launched their device and that the device itself was decent enough to use, which it was.
Well, R.I.P IUNI, we’ll miss you…maybe :S
This market is hard and violent, no doubt. BTW, what happened to iOcean? probably the same… How does Zopo feel today? like an ‘Hero’? (pun intended)
@api182:disqus yes, so true π
Zopo, UMi and Xiaomi are really the only ones left from that period that aren’t dead or inactive.
ZTE, TCL, Huawei and Oppo as well. Jiayu may or may not still be around, depends on the week. There’s quite a few left from the old days.
,
Airyl ignorant.
That bunch has been around for much longer though. Zopo, UMi and Xiaomi popped up very close to each other and were part of that time when the devices were decent and received good recognition but still had to fight the stigma against “made in China” devices. Which was also the time GizChina really started to grow.
That is true but it really wasn’t until around 2011/2012 that they all started to produce really good phones that could challenge those in the west.
I remember my 1st Jiayu running on Lewa OS. Good phone, a lot of potential. Let’s hope they don’t bite the dust like IUNI.
They are very close to that point.
i still have an U2. It is still a good phone and it was a best buy for below 200 usd back then. The very tiny battery, bad gps and the terrible IUNI OS were the only cons. I used it with walton primo’s rom which was much better. The camera and the high quality audio was a great plus
The only cons those are big cons
Its really a dog eat dog world… sad to know!! Hope this doesn’t happen to any other local Chinese companies….
saw quite less of them π
their phones were …. always too expensive for me πππ
A lot of phones including Doogee’s are loaded with IUNI OS. Sucks for them oo.
and we still have elephone, the world we live in -_-
Honestly, I don’t mind Elephone. They’ve matured quite a bit since their really bad devices, and their current phones aren’t all that bad. Have you even seen the first Elephone logo?
in my opinion the maturity that elephone is right now i would feel like a pedophile to like them ill wait for more maturity. but i understand what your saying
I actually agree. I am one of their biggest critics but I have seen growth from them. Their biggest problem is they try to do to much at once. If they could just focus on a few phones they would be much better.
I’m still using U2, good phone but very poor support. This phone deserves for newer Android version.
i still have an U2. It is still a good phone and it was a best buy for below 200 usd back then. The very tiny battery, bad gps and the terrible IUNI OS were the only cons. I used it with walton primo’s rom which was much better. The camera and the high quality audio was a great plus
The only cons those are big cons
Its really a dog eat dog world… sad to know!! Hope this doesn’t happen to any other local Chinese companies….
A lot of phones including Doogee’s are loaded with IUNI OS. Sucks for them oo.
I love my N1, it’s a great phone, favorite phone I’ve owned. But no surprise – IUNI had terrible marketing in China, virtually no brand recognition anywhere despite having Gionee backing them.
I’m also in a minority which likes the IUNI OS, it’s really minimalist and neat although I guess lack of Google Play is a big issue outside of China. It’s a shame if this is the end of the OS too.
I personal think IUNI should look into investors to pump money into them. Change the management and keep the developers, rather than call it quit. Such a waste..
They were way too expensive for the support they offered. ROMs were awful and never finished – it was like working with a constant Beta version of it. There were some alternate ROMs and it seemed like only option. U2 was a fine phone, same thing about U3 – wasted potential.
I love my N1, it’s a great phone, favorite phone I’ve owned. But no surprise – IUNI had terrible marketing in China, virtually no brand recognition anywhere despite having Gionee backing them.
I’m also in a minority which likes the IUNI OS, it’s really minimalist and neat although I guess lack of Google Play is a big issue outside of China. It’s a shame if this is the end of the OS too.
I personally think IUNI should look into investors to pump money into them. Change the management and keep the developers, rather than call it quit. Such a waste..
Unfortunate, they were a good brand, and the U3 was well designed and priced. Their ROM didn’t even have English properly, so I can see why they went bankrupt when they couldn’t grab local market
They were way too expensive for the support they offered. ROMs were awful and never finished – it was like working with a constant Beta version of it. There were some alternate ROMs and it seemed like only option. U2 was a fine phone, same thing about U3 – wasted potential.
Unfortunate, they were a good brand, and the U3 was well designed and priced. Their ROM didn’t even have English properly, so I can see why they went bankrupt when they couldn’t grab local market
There are so many small Chinese players coming out of nowhere and disappearing just as fast that sometimes they remind me of the seemingly endless gnats crawling out from my bathroom sink drain and dying after a week. This is why I’m grateful for blogs like this one.
Oh IUNI, even though I never knew how to correctly pronounce your name, it was good knowing you. I always admired the beautiful symmetry in your logo, and your U2 was one of a kind.
Nowadays there are so many small Chinese players coming out of nowhere and disappearing just as fast that sometimes they remind me of the seemingly endless gnats crawling out from my bathroom sink drain and dying after a week. This is why I’m grateful for blogs like this one.
Meanwhile Elephone , Ulefone , Doogee and Other shovelware brands are fine
Meanwhile Elephone , Ulefone , Doogee and Other shovelware brands are fine