It's official: LeEco, the Chinese counterpart to America's Netflix, wants to sell us, well, everything.
The beginning of LeEco's U.S. inroads was marked by its $2 billion purchase for TV manufacturer Vizio back in July. Since then, it has been slowly building up an impending U.S. entry.
Trying to pigeonhole LeEco as primarily a video streaming service would be a violation of its massive portfolio. It's known as the Netflix of China, as previously mentioned, but it has been around much longer before Netflix's prime. LeEco's video streaming front is just a spoke on its huge wheel. Now that it's officially making its U.S. entry, the Chinese company is pulling a sizable array of products under its belt: a smartphone, a virtual reality headset, a smart bicycle, an autonomous electric car and numerous online services that could possibly dent similar services by Apple and Roku.
Instead of testing the waters, LeEco has opted for a full-blown sail, packing the lot of its wares.
Let's take a brief look at LeEco's product line as it makes its U.S. headway.
LeEco Smartphones
The company's releasing two new smartphones in the United States, one of which is the Le Pro3, which has already been available for some time in China. It's a Snapdragon 821-powered phone with a 5.5 inch display and a 16-megapixel rear shooter. It comes with 64 GB of internal storage and 4 GB of RAM, with a 4,070 mAh battery to keep things juiced up. For $399, the phone is an impressive alternative, likely to attract a market of people who want premium features but can't justify the steep price points of some phones like say, the Google Pixel or the iPhone 7.
There's also the Le S3, a lower-end offering at $249. It's powered by Snapdragon 652 and comes with 3 GB of RAM.
VR Headset
LeEco is also releasing its own VR headset, which is of course compatible with any of its two smartphones. Named as ExploreVR, the headset features a USB Type-C connector, housing a gyrometer, accelerometer, magnetometer and a proximity sensor. Pricing is still unavailable for the headset, but it could possibly be bundled with the Le Pro3 or the Le S3.
Android-Powered Smart Bike
LeEco pre-confirmed this one before its Oct. 19 launch event in San Francisco. It's a smart bike that runs Android, with A 30-speed shift, fingerprint scanner, built-in alarm, GPS voice navigation and laser lane markers.
Self-Driving Electric Car
LeEco also unveiled the LeEco LeSEE Pro, an electric self-driving car. The company was mum on specific technical details and pricing, but promised that it would be "more intelligent and more connected" than the original LeSee concept car showed off back in April.
TV Box and Big Screen TVs
Early this October, LeEco's whole product lineup was leaked, confirming its plans to release a TV lineup in the United States. Now, those rumors were confirmed to be accurate, seeing that LeEco is set to release the 85-inch 4K uMax85 television, which costs $4,999. It's joined by the Android-powered "Super4" series, ranging from 43-inch to 65-inch models that come with LeEco apps and Google Cast.
There's also the LeTV Box U4, set-top-box which costs $79.99. LeEco says that its TV sets will be able to stream content from big name TV companies like Showtime, MGM, Vice, Lionsgate, SeeSo and Sling TV. No word on Netflix, Amazon, YouTube or Hulu, though.
Other Stuff
LeEco is also bringing over LeMall, its ecommerce site, which will offer nifty discounts for those who come on-board early. The company is also introducing the Ecosystem User Interface which acts as a cloud-connected hub for its internet-enabled products. There's also LeCloud for photo and video storage.
LeEco seems pretty confident about its brand now that it's preparing to bleed into the U.S. market. It remains to be seen how all of this pans out for the company. There's no telling if they can guarantee market following considering the already saturated industry it's trying to penetrate. Still, it's always a good thing when a company tries to challenge its contemporaries, because competition is always good for consumers who in the end, get all the products and bargains resulting from the tech war.
