Lin Xi, a core member of ByteDance's AI hardware team and head of Douyin's mobile hardware products, has resigned, becoming the first key hardware executive to leave since ByteDance launched its AI phone project in 2024. He previously worked at Huawei. The departure comes as ByteDance deepens its large model hardware push; on Dec 1 2025, it partnered with ZTE to unveil the Nubia M153 engineering prototype featuring the Douyin phone assistant.