Sorry to disagree, but...
Having used owned both a badge engineered Cosina (an Oly, OM2000 spot metering) and one of the MANY Phenix manuals (a DC701, I think without going & checking), these cameras are similar to the point of being identical, but a Phenix is not (I repeat, NOT) a badge engineered Cosina.
The Phenix Optical Group HQ is located in the land locked province of Jiangxi. The company began making cameras in 1965 and opened a factory in the rail-hub town of Shangrao, Jiangxi in 1987. Since
about 2001 there has been a shiny new facility in Nanchang, the provincial capital. How do I know? I've pedaled my bicycle past it on the way to work! The new factory makes some very nice "joint venture" cameras, including a panorama model that I always regret not buying for 12,000 Chinese Yuan a few years back.
Other joint venture cameras produced by Phenix have included the Yasuhara T981 rangefinder, which they also released under their own name as the JG50, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the revolution in 1999. I've also seen gold plated Seagull TLRs and the classic Phenix 205 compact rangefinder glammed up for the anniversary. The JG50 in red leather looks particularly fine, & one day I hope to own one. Here's one in black leatherette.
Phenix make Lomos & other "cameras" for lomo.com and various of the more exotic & interesting Phenix cameras could be had from them last time I checked. By far the most common Phenixes to make it onto the western market are their various all manual student cameras like Randy's, which are sold by various camera houses throughout Europe, Nth America & Australasia. Oddly, Phenix used to use a distinctive logo using a font that they cribbed from Braun, who in turn sell badge engineered Phenixes under their own name in Germany
In China, Phenix & Seagull sold a gazillion variations on the 90's style 35mm P&S zoom. I bet now they'll be doing the same with digital. They now have factories in Shanghai and Guangdong (Canton) and have 5000 employees at last count.
While Phenix was under the umbrella of Seagull in the early 70s, it has been a separate entity since Deng's Opening Up policy of 20 years back. In China, Phenix always had a high reputation and were often more expensive than Seagulls. Now, both companies' SLRs sit in one corner of Chinese camera shops, squeezed out by shiny Canons, Nikons, etc. But don't fear for Phenix, their new plants are churning out lenses as fast as they can, their list of products includes glass spherical lenses, plastic aspherical lenses, lenses and lens assemblies for cell phones, digicams, projectors, scanners, CCTV cams telescopes and microscopes!
"During the year ended December 31, 2007, the Company obtained approximately 93% of its total revenue from optical processing business."
The Phenix name, probably phonetically spelled to avoid copyright problems, is auspicious in China, where the Phoenix legend holds a lot of currency. The other Phoenix brand seen throughout China is a bicycle.
I'm constantly amazed at the variations on the plastic covered manual SLR built by Phenix, usually with 1/1000 or 1/2000 Copal shutters. They are virtually identical to many Cosinas, and there could well have been some official cooperation between the two companies, but Phenix are definitely made by Phenix, and while some Phenix are sold under different labels on the western market,
I would be very surprised if a Cosina made camera was rebadged as a Phenix - a Cosina made Phoenix, on the other hand, is quite likely - ironically, Phoenix of America do sell badged engineered Chinese cameras, but last time I checked, they were all Seagulls!
Phenix are responsible for my interest in Minolta in a roundabout way. Phenix produce their SLRS in 2 mounts: PK and Minolta MC. In China, I could only find zooms in PK mount. Seagull, on the other hand, make various primes in MC/MD. Minolta invested quite heavily in Seagull, I believe. I wanted some primes, & MC/MD it was.
last of the line: the Phenix 205E. The venerable 205 was designed and built by Shanghai Seagull in 1965. Production was moved to Jangxi in 1969, and finally ended circa 2001 after a 36 year production run.
Aha, found it. The DC701. 1/1000 Seiko shutter. Seagull f1.4/50mm lens. The DC901 looks identical, but gets the same 1/2000 Copal mechanical shutter as all those Cosina clones.
A Phenix by any other name
If it weren't for the lack of PK primes in China, I would've lumped for the EK180, the priciest (still not much) and most fully featured Phenix that I saw on Chinese camera shop shelves.
Perhaps a good option for those with a swag of PK glass looking for a nice, small, light AE body?