Huawei bets big on affordable smartphones; eyes 10% mkt share

Chinese telecom gear maker Huawei is betting big on the affordable smartphone segment in India (sub Rs 15,000) and aims to garner 10 per cent share of the category in next one year.
Huawei, which is the world's third largest handset company, has launched four new devices today priced between Rs 5,499 and Rs 9,499.
"Currently, the affordable smartphone market in India has the largest market share, which is up to two-thirds, 66 per cent approximately, of the total smartphone market share," Huawei Telecommunications India Director Sales (Devices Business) P Sanjeev told PTI.
"We expect to capture 10 per cent market share in the affordable in the period of one year," Sanjeev said.

He added that to reach out to consumers in key markets, Huawei range would be available through a distribution network in offline retail beginning with a 1,000 stores roll out in the next 4-8 weeks.
"For the brand new G and Y series, we will be strengthening our presence with traditional multi-brand retailers and by partnering with top modern trade players such as Croma, Reliance Digital, Sangeetha Retail and The Mobile Store in key cities like Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai amongst others," Sanjeev said.
According to research firm IDC, Korean electronics giant Samsung led the smartphone market in India, which is one the fastest growing smartphone markets globally, with 22 per cent share.

This is followed by homegrown vendors Micromax (18 per cent), Intex (8 per cent) and Lava (7 per cent) and Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi with 4 per cent share.