How Android OS Authenticated the So Called ‘’China Phones”

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can still remember when most phones manufacturer had their dedicated operating system. Cellphones were unique but crude with few trusted and intellectual user interfaces. Smartphones other than Sony Ericson, Nokia, Samsung and IPhones were less recognized and regarded as ‘’China phones’’ especially with the odd loud welcome sound and pixelated user interface. Their Operating system were pure mimicry of the leading brands, and it gave people the perception that they are fake or poor quality phones. Well, with the recent development and Google’s Android as their sailor, these perceptions belong to the grave now. In Nigeria of today, people no longer consider names of brands as much but focuses on smartphones that can do the job; Good design, fast processor, surf the Internet with easy, full social media support and good battery life. The Android platform stands as a liberator for these ‘’China-phones’’ giving them a level playing field with the big brands and they are intellectually giving these big brands a run for their money, this in turn is making smartphones cheaper and affordable. Also forcing big-brands to go the ‘China-way’ by making cheaper and affordable smartphones to stand the competition.

The pocket friendly cost of these so-called ‘’China phones’’ have made them a positive alternative, thus increasing the demand for these phones especially by the low-income earners who wants to feel something close to the real thing. This increasing demand is further been spawned by the increasing cost for the smartphones with trusted names. These unknown brands now rub shoulders with big brands both in configuration and design, some like Lenovo, ZTE and Techno, now stand as an authority with recent trends; these phones are now major force in the Android smartphone market.

Statistics show that four of the top ten-smartphone makers are now from China. Names like Lenovo (the owners of Motorola), Xiaomi, Huawei, ZTE, OnePlus, Infinix, Techno and Oppo are major brands flooding the Nigerian smartphone market and they are starting to gain popularity and credibility. These Chinese-made Android smartphones and phablets grew exponentially in the very short span just after Google’s exposure of the Android platform. Brands like China's Xiaomi broke into the world's top 3 smartphone makers, these budget friendly devices came as an outstanding alternative and value for the money with good design. Lenovo is also moving in leaps and bounds, quickly expanding. However, the downside of this explosion of these devices is that there are no support platform as regard repair and service in case of damage, although some are beginning to open outlets herethese, but they not readily accessible. Most of these ‘Chinese phones’ are OEMs meaning they are from manufacturers who resell another company's product under their own name and branding. According to research carried out in 2013 only 25 per cent of Nigeria’s over 105 million mobile telephone subscribers had smartphones; this figure has soared well above 65% now as emergence of the cheap price China-made Android smartphones grabbed a slice of a market already occupied by BlackBerry and Samsung Electronics.

In spite of the country’s smartphone penetration, the report revealed that about 45 per cent of Nigerian phone users still using basic feature phones, while only 26 per cent used advance feature phones. Curious secret to learn about these Chinese Android OEMs, is the challenge to be better, they mimic and copy ideas and designs of major players and even add extra features to their smartphone. Before the Internet flood and social media pandemic, when mobile phone use was just calling and player media files, Chinese OEM phone with loudspeakers swept the Nigeria mobile market with give away pricing, they even had options for memory cards and added features like antennas to receive signals from local TV stations.