5 phone brands owned by Chinese companies

China is a dynamic industrial country, considered the factory of the world. Aside from being a global manufacturing powerhouse with many products around the world bearing the “Made in China” label (even those not from Chinese brands), the country has also done its best by creating its own competing companies. Right now, in the tech industry, for example, there are many brands that you might not realize are owned by Chinese companies. Even in the smartphone market, Chinese companies are not left behind.

Many Chinese phone makers are giving major smartphone brands like Apple, Google, Samsung, and Nothing a tough time in different countries around the world. You may not even know some of these phone brands because they don’t sell their devices directly in the United States. We’ll highlight some of the interesting phone brands from Chinese companies on the market, just to teach you a little more about them.

Redmi started as a product line for Chinese technology company Xiaomi in 2013. However, after a few years of existence and a few successful early launches that saw the product line sell millions of devices worldwide, Xiaomi spun off Redmi to become an independent brand in 2019. As a brand targeting young people, Redmi is known for selling its phones at affordable prices, just like its parent company Xiaomi.

Chinese smartphone manufacturers are generally known for selling their devices at competitive prices and interestingly, even for Xiaomi (a company that follows the same strategy), the Redmi product line was specifically created to offer products above their price points to cost-conscious consumers. At the time of writing, the brand offers various smartphone product lines, including the Redmi A series, which is at the bottom, followed by the Number series, Note series, and K series.

The K series sits at the top of the brand’s lineup and offers flagship-level specifications. For example, the Redmi K90 Ultra (launched June 2026) sports a 6.83-inch AMOLED display with a 165Hz refresh rate and 3,500 nits peak brightness, Qualcomm’s high-end Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage, and support for fast charging. 100W.

Poco’s smartphone portfolio includes several product lines, including the X, M, F, and C series. The C series is the entry-level option, targeting buyers on a tight budget. The X and M series target the mid-range, while the F series comprises the brand’s flagship devices that compete with other companies’ high-end phones. Although the company does not sell its phones in the United States, it has a presence in more than 35 markets worldwide.

Similar to Redmi, Poco is yet another phone brand that started under the Xiaomi umbrella and later became independent. Poco’s story began in 2018 when Xiaomi launched the sub-brand to take on high-end models like Samsung and OnePlus. Two years later, the brand became independent in 2020. Although Poco has independent product, sales and marketing teams, it still relies on Xiaomi’s manufacturing and after-sales resources.

The company’s ties to Xiaomi appear deep and are also seen elsewhere: in software. Poco’s smartphones run HyperOS, which is based on Android, just like other phones sold by Xiaomi. What’s more, you can even buy the company’s phones directly from its parent company in countries like the UK, which is perhaps done to help streamline operations.

Realme is a Chinese company that started as a sub-brand of Oppo in 2010. In 2018 it became independent, although reports from 2026 indicate that Realme is set to become a sub-brand of Oppo again. It targets the younger generation and currently has over 300 million users worldwide. The company is present in dozens of countries, but unfortunately does not sell its phones in the United States. However, in markets like India, Realme is one of the major players.

Counterpoint Research’s smartphone sales data for the first quarter of 2026 ranked Realme as the fifth most popular brand in India, with its 9% market share behind Vivo, Samsung, Oppo and Xiaomi. Although barely a decade has passed since it started operating as an independent company, Realme has made notable achievements in the smartphone market. It launched the first phone with 240W charging speeds, and in 2026 the company launched a smartphone with a massive 10,000mAh battery in a standard form factor.

Realme’s smartphone lineup offers a variety of phones that cater to users with different needs, from those looking for basic phones on a tight budget to those who need performance-oriented models. The Company’s smartphone product lines include the GT, C, P, Number and Narzo series. Besides phones, Realme also sells its own smartphone accessories, such as true wireless earbuds and earphones.

Honor is another phone brand owned by a Chinese organization: a company called Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology. Honor is one of the leading Android smartphone brands in the market and makes some of the best phones overall. As one of the few Android phone brands capable of competing with Google and Samsung, Honor’s full smartphone lineup consists of three main product lines, including the Magic, N, and X series.

Honor makes foldable phones, and we even reviewed the company’s latest model, the Honor Magic V6, which we hailed as the best and thinnest foldable model on the market today. Like the other phone brands we looked at above, Honor didn’t start from scratch: it also started as a sub-brand. The company was created in 2013 by Chinese technology giant Huawei, which decided to sell it in 2020 to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology, amid US sanctions and a difficult business environment.

The company’s phones are known to be competitively priced and the brand’s main target markets are Asia and Europe. Although independent, it does not have a presence in the United States due to its Huawei origins. Like most smartphone manufacturers, Honor doesn’t just make phones. The company also makes wearables, tablets, laptops, and even smart TVs.

Nubia, formerly known as Nubia Technology, is a Chinese smartphone brand originally established under ZTE, which later reduced its stake in the company. It was founded in 2012, so it’s a young phone brand, like most of the Chinese phone makers we’ve talked about, especially compared to Samsung, which started making phones long before smartphones became a thing. The company is headquartered in China and operates in various regions around the world, including North America, Asia, South America and Europe.

The Nubia smartphone lineup is divided into four main product lines, including the Z, Neo, Flip, and Air series. In addition to these product lines, Nubia also sells phones aimed at gamers under the RedMagic name. Some of these RedMagic phones helped put the company on the map, such as the RedMagic 11 Pro, which stands out as the first mass-produced phone with liquid cooling.

The RedMagic 11 Pro also ranks among the best gaming phones on the market, which is a testament to the company’s capabilities. Nubia’s phones use the company’s Android MyOS skin, while those released under its RedMagic sub-brand use RedMagic OS. Select Nubia phones are available for purchase in the United States directly from the company’s official website.