No, Pepsi is not about to build a new smartphone. The food and beverage conglomerate says it is, however, working with a licensing partner to market a line of mobile phones and accessories in China in the next few months.
"Available in China only, this effort is similar to recent globally licensed Pepsi products which include apparel and accessories," a PepsiCo Inc. spokeswoman told Reuters by email. The spokeswoman did not name the licensing partner or give any further details about the phone.
The company said it has no plans to get into the phone manufacturing business.
On Sunday, mobile news site Mobipicker, citing Chinese media reports, said that Pepsi was planning to release an Android-based smartphone in China named Pepsi P1. The phone reportedly features a 5.5-inch display, a 13-megapixel rear-facing and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, 1.7 GHz CPU and 16GB of storage.
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PepsiCo, best known for its soda brand, already has many licensees across a number of categories. Last year, it tied up with companies such as Danish luxury stereo and TV maker Bang & Olufsen and Italian shoemaker Del Toro for a range of products for its global soccer campaign.
