Lin Xi, a core member of ByteDance’s AI hardware team Ocean and hardware product
head for the Doubao phone, has left the company recently. He is the first core
hardware lead to depart since ByteDance launched its AI phone project in 2024.
Lin formerly spent many years at Huawei as hardware product head for the Pura X
foldable; he joined ByteDance’s Ocean team in 2026 and reported directly to Liu
Chengcheng.