Phab Plus
Chinese smartphone manufacturers are targeting the domestic smartphone market.
On Oct. 19, Chinese manufacturer Lenovo launched the Phab Plus, a smartphone with a 6.8 inch screen, in Korea. This is the first time for the company to officially release the model in the domestic market.
After the takeover of Motorola in Oct. last year, Lenovo is strengthening its smartphone business. In particular, the company has chosen a strategy targeting a “dead zone” in the competitive domestic smartphone market with the release of the smartphone, which is not for sale in the current domestic market. Also, it put a price on the product at 399,000 won (US$355), which is relatively lower than that of high-end smartphones.
Starting with the release of the Phab Plus, Lenovo is set on taking over the domestic market in earnest, and is probably giving thought to the next smartphone model to release in Korea.
Huawei, another leading smartphone maker in China along with Lenovo, is also about to launch its product in the domestic market. The company will release the “Nexus 6P,” which is co-developed with Google, in Korea within this month. Huawei launched the “X3” smartphone through LG U+ last year, but it had no notable achievements. The company is trying to challenge the domestic market once again after a year in cooperation with Google.
Until now, Chinese smartphones have been unable to show a presence in the domestic market due to their strong image of low price and low performance. However, their competitiveness has significantly improved, as technology has recently progressed to the world-class level, and an increasing number of consumers are willing to buy the products.
In fact, the global smartphone market share of Huawei in the third quarter this year increased to 8.4 percent, from 7.5 percent the previous quarter. Lenovo’s figures also grew from 5.2 percent to 5.7 percent. On the other hand, the market share of Samsung decreased from 26.4 percent to 24.6 percent during the same period, while the figure of Apple dropped from 15.4 percent to 13.7 percent.