From beep to boom: Europe is hearing the call of Chinese phones

CHINA’S smartphone makers have long been confi ned to their enormous local market but this is fast changing, with a growing number of western European users opting for a relatively cheap but still sleek Chinesemade upgrade.

Chinese top-range phones are often around half the price of those made by US and Korean rivals, with many devotees swearing by the quality of their devices, insisting they are just as elegant, functional and durable as any other model.

The aggressive expansion into western Europe -- mainly Spain, Italy and France for now -- of Chinese fi rms OnePlus and Xiaomi comes as users grow less willing to fork out around US$ 1,000 ( RM4,000) for a new device.

At the same time the Chinese market reaches saturation point, according to Roberta Cozza, an analyst at American research fi rm Gartner.

Companies such as OnePlus and Xiaomi “have to look somewhere else. They can deliver good smartphones and have the possibility to go on more mature markets”, Cozza told AFP.

They face stiff competition, however, not just from Apple and Samsung, but also from Chinese giant Huawei, the three of which hold around three quarters of the western European market share.

But Xiaomi, which was founded in 2010, already occupies the fourth spot, according to global market research fi rm IDC.

OnePlus is the top- selling smartphone brand in India, where it holds more than half the market share, IDC adds.

And now, European users are growing more willing make the switch.

“I had already bought more expensive phones before and didn’t see the need to spend so much money,” Judy Grayland, a 36-year- old Xiaomi Redmi 4X owner told AFP.

“I am really happy with it. It works really well and it looks nice,” said the Madrid-based translator and mother of one.

Hearing the call of European consumers, Xiaomi recently opened its fi rst fl agship store in Paris, and OnePlus’ phones have gone on sale in the catalogues of French operator Bouygues Telecom. Both brands, complete with accessories, are widely available online.

“We have to go to market step by step. We’re already in Spain and Italy and we’ve learned there for the other European markets,” Xiaomi vice president Xiang Wang said.

“We’re fi ghting against people’s perceptions, because they think that low prices mean low quality, but it’s not (true),” Xiang said.