With foldable smartphones becoming the next hot item after iPhones, Chinese smartphone brand Tecno is looking for tier 2 and tier 3 foldable smartphones outside the cities instead of limiting itself to high-income consumers in the metros.
The company believes that the presence of a premium smartphone at around 88,000 against over 1,50,000 competitors and better specifications automatically makes its premium product more attractive to consumers even in small towns.
"We have launched the Fold phone at a lower price than the Flip. We are fulfilling people's wishes, which is very important," said Aryeet Thalapatra, CEO of Transsion Holdings India, the parent company of brands like Tecno, Infinix and Itel .
In the foldable phone segment, Tecno launched its first product, the PHANTOM V Fold, at the Mobile World Congress in February 2023. The company is expected to launch a foldable phone soon.
When asked why a consumer would choose Tecno over Samsung, Thalapatra replied, “With the existing plans, people can buy Samsung, but why give an extra 80,000 to a person when you can lock it to 80,000 for less ?".
“So we didn't argue with anyone about the price, we argued about the features. So consumers will not buy from us because we are affordable, but because we offer good experience and functionality. We offer a good battery, rear camera, front camera, chipset and better display than competitors in our foldable phone,” Thalapatra added.
According to research firm Techarc, revenues from foldable smartphones in India will cross the Rs 100,000 mark, with over 635,000 sales of these smartphones during the year, Techarc said.
Apart from Tecno, foldable smartphones like Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, Motorola Razr 40, Oppo Find N2 Flip, Tecno Phantom V Fold, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 are some of the options currently available in the market.
In addition to foldable phones, Tecno is betting on the premium trend to strengthen its offering in the Indian market. With over 30,000 units, the premium smartphone segment accounts for around 15% of Tecno's total revenue.
According to IDC, Tecno is among the top nine smartphone brands in the country with a market share of 3.8%. Its subsidiary Infinix, which sells between 6,000 and 30,000 smartphones, also had a market share of 3.5% at the end of June.
In the April-June period, the company reported a 112% increase in deliveries in the premium and ultra-premium segments in the first half of the year due to the launch of new products.
“In the segment of 30,000 units mentioned above, the market is about 17%, but this market is growing very fast. Techno has already proven itself in the sub-20,000 segment, but now we will focus on the premium and ultra-premium segments,” said Thalapatra.
In the premium segment, Tecno Phantom X2 Pro, Camon 20 Pro, etc. reviews products like like their smartphones. However, the company said it will continue to focus on the fewer than 20,000 markets, which account for 70% of the industry's total consumer base.
"We are still focusing on the 15,000-20,000 segment. We don't want to give up this segment because with 4G, consumers will also migrate to affordable 5G. So we have to participate and also participate in the affordable 5G segment," Talapatra said .
Tecno launched 17 smartphone models in various segments in 2023 and plans to launch 13 more smartphone models.
Post a Comment