BYD and smartphone maker vivo have signed a strategic cooperation agreement that moves their partnership from phone-car connection to what the two companies call phone-car integration, with the Denza N8 first in line for the new features.
The agreement was signed in Shenzhen with BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu and vivo president Hu Baishan in attendance. BYD senior vice president Yang Dongsheng and vivo vice president Zhou Wei signed on behalf of the two companies, and the deal was made public on 5 November.
It covers AI that works across phone and car, digital car keys and fast phone charging inside the vehicle.
Denza N8 first
The Denza N8, which opened for reservations last month as a five-seater with up to 1,003km of range, will be the first car to receive the features.
They include NFC tap-to-connect, apps that carry over from phone to car without interruption, and mirroring of vivo’s X Fold 6 folding phone onto the N8’s 30-inch screen.
A “Hello Denza” voice assistant will also work across both devices, so commands can be passed between phone and car.
Wider rollout
BYD and vivo first worked together in 2019, and their phone-car connection features already cover nearly 5 million BYD vehicles. Under the new agreement, some models from every BYD brand will gain the integrated features by the end of 2026, with deeper AI functions to follow in 2027.
Data shows that vivo’s sales share in the large folding screen mobile phone market is second only to Huawei, ranking second in the industry and first in Android, in the first three quarters of 2026.
