(Yicai Global) Feb. 24 -- Youdao, the education technology unit under Chinese internet giant NetEase, is planning to start selling a smart learning lamp in the near future as the latest hardware becomes a new area of opportunity for e-educators smarting from China’s recent ban on extra-curricular classes.

Youdao’s new lamp will have video chatting, English language practice and mistake-spotting functions, Yicai Global learned. It is expected to go to market in the next two months. The price of the lamp has not been determined, and a person familiar with the matter said that Youdao never fights a price war for hardware products.

China’s crackdown last year on out-of-school tutoring to reduce the burden on the country’s school kids has seen edtech firms scramble to find other sources of income. Smart machinery is one such area. Zuoyebang is now selling two smart pens to help students study all subjects from English to geography and let them practice calligraphy. Banma has also debuted an artificial intelligence reading machine to help children learn how to read.

TikTok operator ByteDance has done very well from sales of its Dali smart desk, with over one million shipments so far. The desk comes with two lamps that are fitted with eye-protection bulbs. The dual-source lighting reduces the shadows cast by students’ hands on their schoolbooks. It also comes with a screen, so pupils can watch online classes, and a camera, enabling parents to check up on progress and to talk to their children via video link.

China’s intelligent learning products market is expected to reach CNY100 billion (USD15.8 billion) in three years’ time, according to market research firm iResearch.

Youdao’s profit from hardware sales jumped 56 percent in the three months ended Sept. 30 last year from a year earlier to hit a record high of CNY255 million (USD40 million), according to its third-quarter report.

Editor: Kim Taylor