(Yicai Global) Jan. 2 -- Chang Cheng, who said he was resigning as vice president and China head at Lenovo two days ago for "family reasons," is joining rival tech firm Xiaomi to lead its mobile phone product division.

Chang will serve as a vice president at Xiaomi, founder and Chief Executive Lei Jun said on Weibo today. The new executive forwarded the post to his own account using a Xiaomi device.

Chang worked at Lenovo for 19 years after joining as a director of laptop research in 2000. He later took over the tablet and smartphone divisions and often compared Lenovo's products with Xiaomi's on social media.

Editor: James Boynton