How a small firm is set to charm the continent

Transsion has set up two R&D centers in Nigeria— Africa’s most populous country— and Kenya to offer tailor-made smartphone features for its African customers.

Everyone in the world loves selfie, and African customers are no exception. But it is quite difficult for them to have good pictures, because darker skin makes it difficult for many cameras to recognize their faces. To solve this problem, Tecno smartphones locate consumers’ face by focusing on their teeth and eyes. It has performed data analysis on African users’ face shapes, colors and their preferences of photo effects to determine how much extra light exposure is needed to lighten up their photos.

Due to the poor telecoms infrastructure in Africa, consumers prefer dual SIM cards to ensure effective telecom signals, but most of them can’t afford two handsets. Tecno is one of the first brands to launch dual-SIMcard feature phones there.

Distinct from markets that are already dominated by smartphones, the African continent is still in the transition from feature phones to smart handsets, with the former accounting for more than 60 percent market share. It is important to cultivate consumer loyalty to ensure that they will opt for the same brand when upgrading their handsets.

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