We Will Focus On Smartphones Priced Between $100-$200: ZTE

BANGALORE: Even as domestic handset makers rush to offer smartphones priced as low as 2,000, Chinese telecom firm ZTE said it would focus on devices priced between $100-200 (about 6,000-12,000) for the Indian market.

“Rather than low cost, our focus is on value for money products. We have smartphones starting 5,000, but overall, we would want to focus on $100-200 devices to drive sales for our Indian business,” ZTE India CEO Mobile Business Yuan Kang told PTI. He added that though the firm is fairly new in the fiercely competitive smartphone market in the country, it is expecting to close the year with $3-4 million in revenues from the division. ”India is a huge market and we are confident that our portfolio will meet Indian requirements. We are building our brand and in the next few months, we will launch 4-5 new handsets online and 3-4 devices offline,” he said.

The company is also looking at bringing its ‘Nubia’ range of premium smartphones to India. ZTE today launched its new handset — V5 — exclusively on marketplace major Snapdeal, priced at 10,999. The Android KitKat based handset comes with five-inch screen, 1.2 Ghz quad core processor, 13 MP rear and 5MP front camera, 4GB storage (expandable upto 32 GB) and 2,400 mAh battery.

According to research firm IDC, smartphone sales in the country grew almost three-fold to over 44 million in 2013, buoyed by affordable devices made by local firms such as Micromax and Karbonn. In the second quarter of 2014, 18.42 million smartphones were shipped in India. Though Samsung is the leader with a 29 percent market share, Micromax (18 per cent), Karbonn (8 percent) and LAVA (6 percent) are close competitors.

Last week, Firefox (in partnership with Spice and Intex) had launched two new handsets, priced below 2,300, aimed at those looking to upgrade from feature phones to smartphones. Google is also expected to launch its much-awaited sub-$100 (around 6,000) smartphones in India on September 15, which will further intensify competition in the booming multi-billion dollar smartdevices market.

READ MORE: Ritot Smartwatch Will Tweet, Show Facebook Updates

Google May Launch Android One Devices In India This Month