Lenovo: Lenovo shuts down gaming phones division, here’s why – Times of India

Gaming smartphones are a rather niche category and only a handful of companies are actually making these devices targeting gamers. Now, one of those companies has also pulled the plug on its gaming phones division. According to a report by Android Authority, Lenovo has shut down its gaming business unit, which used to make Legion-branded phones.
“Lenovo is discontinuing its Android-based Legion mobile gaming phones as part of a wider business transformation and gaming portfolio consolidation. As a leader in gaming devices and solutions, Lenovo is committed to advancing the gaming category across form factors, as well as focusing on where it can bring the most value to the global gaming community,” a company spokesperson told Android Authority.
While no specific reason was given by Lenovo, the Legion series of phones was primarily restricted to the Chinese market. Or at least never really took off in the international markets. Lenovo’s Legion series of phones though had powerful specs and a lot of gaming-centric features but didn’t really make an impact.

Gaming phones remain a big niche

Apart from Lenovo, there’s Asus with its ROG phones. Nubia has the Red Magic series, which is targeted at gamers. Xiaomi too had the Black Shark series. In fact, Lenovo isn’t the only one that seemed to be in troubled waters when it comes to gaming phones. Interestingly, apart from Asus ROG phones, neither of the other gaming phones ever made it to the Indian market.
Xiaomi’s Black Shark team also laid off hundreds of workers earlier this year. According to a report by South Morning China Post, Black Shark laid off most of its employees and also didn’t pay severance to many of those employees. The layoffs at Black Shark, as per the report, had started in August 2022. The company used to have a workforce of over 1,000 employees, which was cut down to just 100 early this year.