China smartphone makers join hands on apps, pose threat to WeChat

FILE PHOTO: WeChat mascots are displayed inside Tencent office at the TIT Creativity Industry Zone in Guangzhou, China May 9, 2017. REUTERS/Bobby Yip/File Photo

HONG KONG: China's biggest smartphone makers are collaborating to promote download-free "fast apps", in a move backed by the government and likely to threaten Tencent Holdings' grip on mobile traffic with its wildly popular WeChat app.

The messenger-to-payment app WeChat, which has more than 1 billion users, last year launched "mini-programs" within the app that look and operate much like apps on Apple Inc's iOS and Google's Android operating systems, but are far less data-intensive.