(Yicai) Oct. 10 -- The senior vice president of Xiaomi and president of the Chinese smartphone maker’s major home appliances department will leave the company.

Zhang Feng, who is also a partner of Xiaomi, announced his resignation from the Beijing-based firm at an internal meeting on Oct. 8.

After Zhang’s departure, the television division of Xiaomi’s major home appliance department will merge into the company’s mobile phone business, and a new department consisting of the air-conditioner, refrigerator, and washing machine businesses will be created, Yicai learned.

A Xiaomi insider told Yicai that the merger is probably because the smartphone and TV businesses will be further interconnected in the future.

In 2012, Zhang established Zimi, a manufacturer of portable battery chargers for electronic devices. When Zhang joined Xiaomi in 2016, Zimi was integrated into the Xiaomi ecosystem.

Zhang was later appointed head of Xiaomi’s mobile phones and intelligent hardware supply chains. In 2020, Zhang and three other executives -- Wang Xiang, Shou Zi Chew, and Li Weibin -- were named partners by Xiaomi’s founder and Chief Executive Officer Lei Jun. Lu is the only remaining partner.

Xiaomi’s smartphone business is growing better than last year because it was not affected by the return of Huawei Technologies, as the market share Huawei lost was mainly seized by Apple, Oppo Mobile Telecommunications, and Vivo Communication Technology, an insider at Xiaomi told Yicai. Xiaomi will still face great pressure for business growth in the long run while it focuses on the automobile business, the insider added.

Editor: Futura Costaglione