Koobee
Pepsi P1

The Pepsi P1 smartphone was manufactured by Koobee (also known as the Shenzhen Koobee Communication Equipment Co., Ltd), as part of a brand-licensing deal with PepsiCo. The Pepsi P1 and its counterpart, the P1S, were positioned as value-for-money, mid-range smartphones. They had respectable specifications for smartphones of the time, sporting a 5.5-inch 1080p 2.5D curved glass display, powered by a 1.7 GHz octa-core MediaTek processor. Other notable features included a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, a 5-megapixel front camera, and a fingerprint sensor on the back. The standard P1 model supported 4G LTE, while the P1S was a variant specifically for China Unicom's FDD-LTE network. The devices were designed to compete on value, not premium features, which aligned perfectly with a strategy of targeting the vast and competitive Chinese smartphone market with a new, attention-grabbing entry. Although the Pepsi logo is engraved on the back of the device, the phone's primary branding element was in its software. It ran on Dido OS 6.1, a fork of Android 5.1 (Lollipop), which was customised with a Pepsi-themed wallpaper and some Pepsi-related elements in the user interface on the device. The launch of the Pepsi P1 in the Chinese market was a deliberate decision. With over 500 million active smartphone users, China presented a large and digitally savvy target market. At the time, PepsiCo stated that its goal was to "engage with a local mobile audience" and believed that by selling a physical handset, it would increase brand awareness among Chinese users. The phone was offered through a crowdfunding campaign in partnership with online retailer JD.com. When the campaign launched in the fourth quarter of 2015, it aimed to sell 4,000 units and raise a total of 3 million yuan, which was approximately $470,000 USD at that time.  There was a strong start to the campaign, with reports indicating that over 580,000 yuan was raised in the first 24 hours. This was driven by attractive early-bird offers with the first 1000 units offered at 499 yuan (approximately $78 USD) and the next 1000 at 699 yuan (roughly $110 USD). These quickly sold out. Despite a strong start, the campaign fell short of its initial goal, ultimately selling only 43% of its 3 million yuan target before concluding on 3 December 2015. This would indicate that approximately 1700 phones were sold; however, further devices could have been sold outside the crowdfunding campaign. The phone received a mixed response when it was launched, which was unsurprising given it was a relatively unremarkable Android smartphone. Images of the Pepsi P1 smartphone used as part of the crowdfunding campaign: