Chinese mobile phone makers make waves
FIRMS SEE GULF AS A REGION WITH A LOT OF OPPORTUNITIES
Chinese manufacturers are now creating ripples in the mobile phone industry after Lenovo became the number one in PC segment in 2013.
According to research firm Gartner, Huawei, Lenovo, Xiaomi, TCL, ZTE, Oppo are in the top ten rankings and some of these Chinese companies have their regional headquarters in Dubai.
Out of these, Huawei is ranked as the third biggest smartphone manufacturer, followed by Lenovo at fourth and Xiaomi, fifth.
Huawei earns most of its revenues from sales of networking equipment, but lately it has become a major smartphone player in the industry. It was the only vendor to grow more than 70 per cent year-on-year in third quarter shipments, whereas Apple could grow only 20.62 per cent and Samsung 14.61 per cent.
“In the area of consumer electronics, we are especially proud of the stellar growth we’ve seen globally and the increased demand for our mid- to high-end devices,” said Pan En, vice-president Middle East.
Mohammad Hilili, general manager for Lenovo Gulf, said that Gulf region is very strategic for us for a very long time.
“We launched our first tablet and smartphone in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Then we expanded to other countries. We see a lot of potential in Dubai, especially being a hub. MEA [Middle East and Africa] is one of the two regions in EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa] that is behind Lenovo’s phenomenal growth in mobile phones,” he said.
Growth areas
of
Huawei
Huawei growth year on year in third quarter.
Lenovo is number two in smartphone and PC rankings in the UAE. “We are planning to invest more on the workforce for the smartphone and server sectors. Smartphone and server segments are the growth areas for us as the PC segment is falling,” Hilili said.
“We started operations
in the UAE one year ago. Now, we are expanding to Qatar soon and will be in other Middle East markets like Jordan, Palestine, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia by the beginning of next year,” said Mohammad Naoufel Madih, marketing manager at Oppo smartphone.
“We treat these countries [UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar] as a window region for our brand awareness to influence the Middle East region. These three counties are highly competitive and once succeeded, our image is exposed to other Middle East countries,” he said.
Oppo is planning to open its third exclusive showroom in the UAE.
Steven Wang, head of new markets at smartphone maker OnePlus, sees the GCC as one of the key new markets OnePlus is targeting for 2016.
Early adoption rates are strong and users value premium products.