BackWon’t play second fiddle in Indian smartphone market: Lenovo
Lenovo is focussing on increasing its presence in the premium category and has launched Moto Z and Moto Z Play in the Indian market
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New Delhi: Chinese consumer electronics maker Lenovo Group Ltd on Tuesday said it will settle only for the top slot in India’s booming smartphone market with its portfolio of Lenovo and Motorola products.
As part of the strategy, the company is also focussing on increasing its presence in the premium category (Rs20,000 onwards) and has launched Moto Z and Moto Z Play in the Indian market.
“We are not here to play second fiddle. We want to become number one (in the Indian market)," Lenovo senior vice-president and co-president, mobile business group (MBG), Aymar de Lencquesaing told reporters.
He said Lenovo saw its India revenues growing 100% last year and “there is no reason that it would not do (grow) so this year".
Citing data from research firm IDC, Lenovo India executive director, MBG, Sudhin Mathur said the company (including Motorola) ranks second in terms of value and third in terms of shipment volume in the Indian market.
According to IDC, the smartphone market in India posted a 17.1% sequential rise in shipments to 27.5 million units in April-June quarter 2016.
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd led the pack with 25.1% share followed by Micromax (12.9%), Lenovo Group (7.7%), Intex (7.1%) and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (6.8%).
Mathur said the premium segment of smartphones in India is growing at about 22% compared to 17% for the overall market. Also, about 26% of smartphone revenue comes from the premium segment.
“The premium segment is witnessing strong growth and we play across (price) categories. With Moto Z, we want to tap into the premium segment," he said.
The modular smartphone, Moto Z, is priced at Rs39,999, while the Moto Z Play will be available for Rs24,999 on Amazon India and Flipkart beginning 17 October.
Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google in a $2.9 billion deal in 2014. The company has also invited developers to design smartphone mods. It will select the best ideas and also invest about $1 million in them.
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