Xiaomi to Oppo: How Chinese smartphone players have evolved in India

In India, these Chinese firms haven’t missed the bus. Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi, Lenovo Mobile and vivo are now manufacturing smartphones in India, and planning large investments. We take a look at how these companies have evolved over the years and established themselves in the world’s fastest growing mobile phone market.

Huawei

The first Huawei phones to be manufactured in India are the Honor Holly 2 and Honor 6X. 

As the most successful among Chinese mobile companies globally, Huawei considers the Indian market as a key driver of its growth. To increase its footprint in the country, Huawei set up a Global Service Centre in Bengaluru last year, and is initiating domestic smartphone manufacturing in partnership with Flextronics. The company is also investing heavily in offline retail expansion.

The first Huawei phones to be manufactured in India are the Honor Holly 2 and Honor 6X, the latter being considered as among the best contemporary mid-range smartphones. The company’s manufacturing plant in Chennai is capable of manufacturing three million units a year, signifying the size of the market Huawei is aiming to corner in the coming days.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi’s problems in India are not with the demand, but in satisfying it. The company is a household name here because of its budget friendly and attractive mid-range phone offerings, which attract huge demand when released.

Back in March, the company, in partnership with Foxconn, opened its second smartphone manufacturing factory in Andhra Pradesh’s Sri City to coincide with the launch of the Redmi 4A handset. Thanks to the new factory, Xiaomi now manufactures a phone a second in India.

As of now, all of Xiaomi’s phones sold here are manufactured in India, expect for the Mi 5. Xiaomi has partnered with Big C Mobiles, Poorvika Mobiles and Sangeetha Mobiles to expand its presence to over 700 stores in South India, and is now selling its phones across 1500 mom and pop shops in Delhi, Chandigarh and Jaipur. Read more about Xiaomi’s second plant here.

Oppo

Oppo is targeting various price segments like Rs 10,000-15,000 and Rs 20,000-Rs 25,000 to increase sales across the country. 

Oppo also has big plans for the Indian market. Aside from an existing manufacturing plant in Greater Noida, the company is pouring in Rs 1,400 crore-worth investments on a new 1,000-acre industrial park in the same region, which will be operational in the next 2-3 years. The new facility will assemble completely knocked down kits instead of semi-assembled kits which others do.

Oppo is targeting various price segments like Rs 10,000-15,000 and Rs 20,000-Rs 25,000 to increase sales across the country. The company has an aggressive offline policy as well. It has been focusing in the mid-range premium segment with its selfie focused Oppo F1, Oppo F3 Plus, and plans to launch the Oppo F3 next. The company is also among the top five vendors in India now.

Gionee

Back in October 2015, Gionee launched the F103 as its first ‘Made in India’ smartphone. A year and a half later, the company recently announced that it will manufacture all its phones in India, a decision which may double its revenue in the coming days.

Gionee currently manufactures 60% of all phones in India, but the company is investing Rs 500 crore on a new manufacturing plant in Haryana to change that. In terms of inventory, Gionee plans to launch six to seven phones this year alone, all of which will be priced between Rs 8,000 and Rs 25,000 to meet the requirements of mid-range phone buyers.

vivo

Vivo is already in the list of top five phone sellers in India and is also the co-sponsor for the IPL, which has boosted its brand presence. 

Vivo entered the Indian smartphone market in 2015 and has since sold a number of smartphones in various price brackets. Vivo is already in the list of top five phone sellers in India and is also the co-sponsor for the IPL, which has boosted its brand presence.  The company hopes to double its smartphone manufacturing in India in the next one year so as to capitalise on the growing share of Chinese smartphone vendors in India which stood at 46 per cent in the 4th quarter of last year.

Vivo is presently offering its latest line of V-series handsets which include mid-rangers like V5, V5 Plus and the just-launched V5S, all of which are priced between Rs 17,000 and Rs 30,000.