Huawei looks at mid-range smartphone segment in Southeast Asia



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When security concerns in the United States shook Huawei's ambitions to be the leading smartphone maker early in the year, the Chinese phone maker has not agreed to become undesirable on the biggest market in the world. Yu, the general manager of the company's consumer business, even accused the competitors of turning to the policy to oust the United States.

Huawei phones are still sold in the United States, but the authorities

With its projects that have derailed, at least temporarily, Huawei now seems to have shifted its focus from high-end phones to mid-range phones in some global markets.

Although the margin of these phones is slim, the volume of sales could offset that. More importantly, it can help Apple and Samsung achieve their stated goal.

Mid-range phone shipments increased by 53% in Southeast Asia in 2017 compared with the previous year, according to IDC. costs between 200 and 400 US dollars accounted for 27% of the market in 2017, compared with only 17% the year before

In the region, the first player in this segment is Samsung, with its Galaxy J series. This is followed by Oppo and Vivo. Huawei is also in the game, but he trailed his Chinese rivals and the number one Korean builders.

So it's easy to see why Huawei is so aggressive lately with its Nova 3i launch earlier this month. Rated at only 398 Singaporean dollars in Singapore, it has many more expensive model features but addresses more price sensitive consumers.

Indeed, the introduction of Huawei's new Nova Series demonstrates the ambition of the Chinese company's diversified markets in the region such as Thailand and the Philippines.

However, the road ahead will not be easy. Besides Oppo and Vivo, Huawei also has another Chinese competitor to fight. Out of its IPO in Hong Kong, Xiaomi will have funds to challenge, especially in terms of price

The other competitors – Nokia, Asus, LG and Samsung – should improve their phones in the coming years, in a market more in addition tense.

Nokia introduced its sleek Nokia 7 Plus and the Asus ZenFone 5 and Max Pro are competitors capable of offering consumers an alternative to Chinese phone makers.

And Huawei must not only face these rivals but also its competitors.

This is perhaps in part the reason why the Nova 3 was not introduced in Singapore because the Nova 3 and the Honor 10 have rather similar specifications. Both have the chip Kirin 970, GPU Mali-G72 and 6 GB RAM

Instead, in Singapore, we get the Nova 3i, a less powered version, to compete in the sub-S 400 segment.

The move is aggressive to gain more market share. As they say, it's better to eat your own meal and then eat it by a competitor. If there is a problem with this double-brand aggression on the market, it is that it can be rather confusing.

The Honor 10 has been dubbed P20, the flagship high-end model of the Huawei P-series, for example. [19659003] And when Huawei's Nova 3i was launched a few weeks ago, some consumers were asking for the Nova 3 – a similar model to the Honor 10, which was already sold in Singapore.

To have a stronger presence in the market, he won Do not help Honor to steal the spotlight from the Huawei brand, especially in the long run.

Consumers prefer the third-largest handset maker to be more consistent in its approach. It must rely on the correct response generated by the Mate and P series over the past two years.

Having said that, having more choices is always better for consumers. In this sense, Huawei's competitive offers have added to the options they may have in the region.

Of course, these new models have raised expectations. According to a report of Huawei's business earlier this year, brand awareness outside China has risen from 64% to 74% in one year.

Will mid-range strategy be profitable for Huawei? the high-end segment, probably with a new launch of the Mate series later this year? It is still early to say, especially with changing user tastes.

What will be interesting to watch is how it can repel other Chinese phone providers who have gotten used to a tough fight in a low-margin segment, their home market.

The mid-range market will see many options for users in the coming month. This is good news for people looking for a competitively priced phone.

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