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By Bloomberg

Lenovo Group Ltd. is considering taking its new device unit public as the Chinese electronics company joins the race to capitalize on the growing interest in smart homes.

The unit, which is called Shenqi, could be worth “a couple of billion dollars” after it begins selling smartphones and Internet-connected household devices online in April, Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing said today in an interview at the company’s headquarters in Beijing. Yang declined to give a timeframe for any fundraising moves or name specific investors.

“‘We want to try a new way to nurture and incubate business,’’ said Yang, 50. ‘‘Smartphones will be just one of the devices for this new startup company and it will be backed not only with Lenovo money, but also will get money from capital markets.’’

The new unit will help Yang focus on Internet-based devices and the development of mobile applications as smartphone growth slows in China, the world’s largest market. The market for Web- linked appliances will grow to $7.1 trillion by 2020, from $1.9 trillion in 2013, according to researcher International Data Corp.

The Lenovo startup would use a direct-to-consumer, Internet-based business model similar to that which propelled closely held Xiaomi Corp. to the top of the China smartphone market and third-place globally in the third quarter last year. While the new company has no official English name, Shenqi means ‘‘magical’’ or ‘‘miraculous.’’

Online Shift

Lenovo fell 0.9 percent to HK$10.66 as of 4 p.m. in Hong Kong. The stock increased 8.2 percent last year, its sixth consecutive year of gains.

Lenovo announced plans for the company in October, without supplying operational and financial details. Its online focus represents a shift for Lenovo, which mainly sells smartphones through retailers and wireless-service providers.

‘‘Strong software support in China is an increasingly important aspect of selling smartphones to customers,’’ Stephen Yang, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sun Hung Kai Financial Ltd., said before the Lenovo chief executive spoke today. The new company ‘‘will create a stronger online ecosystem for Lenovo’s mobile products,’’ he said.

Chen Xudong, currently president of Lenovo’s business in China, will be CEO of the new company. Liu Jun, head of Lenovo’s mobile unit, and George He, head of Lenovo’s ecosystem and cloud services group, will be co-chairmen.

Cloud Services

The new unit would focus on cloud-based services and help Lenovo push into other Web-enabled devices, Liu said in a Jan. 7 interview. Lenovo, the world’s largest maker of personal computers, had expanded in mobile products to help counteract a global slowdown in demand for desktop and laptop devices.

Smartphone shipments in China doubled in the past two years as the nation’s 1.29 billion wireless users shifted from phones that can only handle voice calls and text messages to those able to surf the Web.

The period of ‘‘hypergrowth” is over in China’s smartphone market, Yang said in November. China smartphone shipments will slow to single-digit growth rates in the next few years, researcher International Data Corp. said at the time.

Lenovo maintained its 13 percent share of China’s smartphone market in the third quarter, researcher Canalys said in November. It slipped to third place from second a year earlier as shipments increased at Xiaomi, which more than tripled its share to take the top spot with a 16 percent share, rising from 5 percent a year earlier, Canalys said at the time.