In the Top 10 on the Q1 CY13 Chinese smartphone market Lenovo (w/13.1%), Huawei (w/10.1%) and ZTE (w/6.9%) are well-known brands globally. The #3 Coolpad (w/10.3%) is not, neither the #7 K-Touch/Tianyu (w/4.1%), nor the #8 GiONEE (w/3.8%), nor the #10 OPPO (w/2.9%).
When I looked into these companies I got interested only in GiONEE (金立), as the one with the best chance currently to succeed in the broad global market as well. Not least there is a very strong determination by GiONEE Group President Lu Wei Bing (卢伟冰) / William Lu (see the below picture that was taken on the July 10 launch) to succeed overseas as evidenced by his latest interview with Tencent Digital.
He is absolutely convinced that after doing 10 million unit ODM sales abroad the company is ready to expand under its own brand as well. Moreover he was in 2009 with K-Touch/Tianyu as responsible for mobile GSM and overseas business unit there, so has pretty much experience in overseas efforts from China. Finally GiONEE has the largest manufacturing facility of its own among those additional players, with 40 million units capacity per year, and with an expansion capability already prepared in its industrial park for another 40 million when the market opportunity will arise.
This report will be organised into the following sections:
Current situation in China:
Consolidation among Chinese mobile phone brands and manufacturers would escalate in the following months
Considering the well known Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE and HTC situation the most interesting Chinese brand for me quickly became GiONEE. Why?
Earlier information about GiONEE
- From the company itself
- From my trend-tracking blog, ‘Experiencing the Cloud’
- From current media reports
Sidenote #1: K-Touch/Tianyu (天语) is only trying to regain its lost fame (when sold 17 million K-Touch phones in 2007, emerging as #2 cell-phone maker in the China market, second only to Nokia). Moreover it had also a U-turn in overseas expansion last year, and now concentrating on the domestic market only. In addition it is quite picky in SoC vendor selection: with Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 MSM8225Q for a $163 4.5”-er quad-core from April, then with Broadcom for a $98 4”-er dual-core from May, finally with Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8930 for a $163 TD-LTE dual-core from August, as the latest ones. This is all independently from its original, February, 2012 Qualcomm commitment. With this it looks like that it is also trying to avoid MediaTek which made its original success possible, while for others MediaTek has become an even more important partner than Qualcomm.
Sidenote #2: OPPO has a visibly lesser effort to expand abroad, and Coolpad (as a wholly owned subsidiary of China Wireless Technologies Limited), although “has established strong and close strategic cooperation relationships with certain global telecommunications operators” according to its parent, “in the year of 2011, most of the Coolpad smartphones were shipped to the domestic telecommunications operators” according to the chairman of the parent company. For 2012 the parent stated in the Market Share of Coolpad Smartphones Ranks No. 4 in China only these facts: “the Group has started to launch 4G FDD-LTE smartphones in the United States in 2012, a further expansion into overseas markets. … Except for the existing market in India and Taiwan, the Group successfully rolled out its proprietary 4G FDD-LTE smartphone in the American market. The affordable Coolpad smartphones not only enabled more and more American users to enjoy the 4G high-speed network, but also enhanced the brand awareness of Coolpad in the United States. … Meanwhile, the Group continued to partner with the tier-one chipset suppliers to successfully roll out the 4G FDD-LTE smartphone in the United States.” With that Coolpad has a very focused geographical, and even more focused technology segment strategy abroad than GiONEE.
Complementary posts reminder:
Eight-core MT6592 for superphones and big.LITTLE MT8135 for tablets implemented in 28nm HKMG are coming from MediaTek to further disrupt the operations of Qualcomm and Samsung[‘Experiencing the Cloud’, July 20, 2013] from which the following excerpts I will include here as the ones directly related to the content given here as well:
… according to Zhu Shangzu (朱尚祖), MediaTek Global Smartphone General Manager in the [Part 2] MediaTek to push 8 small cores, the mystery [ESM 国际电子商情 (International Electronic Business), July 18, 2013] exclusive interview … I think the future of high-end smartphones innovation will focus on the expansion of big screen multimedia applications, and this is our direction. …
Judging from the current situation, customers of high-end flagship phones are still using the products of the competitors, but there is flagship in our quad-core case as well, and OPPO, Vivo and GiONEE and other quad-core phones are also very popular. Our next goal is to get the customers of flagship machines using our platform via helping customers to achieve stronger performance on the big screen multimedia.
Evolution of Indian Handset OEMs – History, Current State and Future Outlook [Convergence Catalyst blog, March 27, 2012]
Many Indian handset brands were started by former national and regional distributors of global OEMs (such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, etc). These companies partnered with Mediatek (MTK), a fabless System-on-Chip (SoC) provider and ODMs based in Taiwan and China to source white-labeled devices (with basic Indian market hygiene requirements like long battery life and high audibility)
…
The Chinese handset market has undergone a similar influx of local vendors in partnership with MTK in 2007. Tianyu (market facing brand of Chinese telecom player K-Touch) was the first Chinese vendor to launch mobile handsets based on MTK’s turnkey solution in early 2007. Tianyu’s key success factors include products with feature set that address local market needs, faster turn-around time, wide spread distribution and high channel margins to distributors. By end of 2008, a number of local vendors such as Bird, Amoi, ChangHong, Gionee, etc had entered the Chinese market using Tianyu’s business model. Increased competition among numerous vendors resulted in ASP (Average Selling Price) reduction, in turn affecting handset margins adversely.
End of complementary posts reminder
Current situation in China:
Consolidation among Chinese mobile phone brands and manufacturers would escalate in the following months
The recent message from China was blunt: Xiaomi (小米), Lenovo (联想), ZTE (中兴) and GiONEE (金立) are pushing new products – Mobile phone industry, welcome to the final competitive play (小米联想中兴金立争推新品 手机业迎来淘汰赛) [IT Business News Network (IT商业新闻网), July 13, 2013]:
From Xiaomi mobile phone, Lenovo K900, HTC devices having depth customization with operators, and then to ZTE Geek phones in recent days, in addition to Meitu Kiss [rooted in a highly popular “picture beautifying software” made in China], the GiONEE mobile phone and a number of domestic brands, there were a number of new product launches in the first half. In the second half the smart phone will probably usher in a decisive knockout.
Then the message continues with an earlier information which I would take here in a little more detail from China’s mobile phone shipment up 36.4% in June [China Knowledge, June 12, 2013]
China saw its shipment of mobile phones in the domestic market surge 36.4% year on year to 42.29 million units in June this year, according to a report released by China Academy of Telecommunication Research of MIIT.
The figure last month was 29.1% lower than the 59.08 million it realized in May 2013.
China’s shipment of domestic brand mobile phones in the country hit 34.31 million units in June, accounting for 81.1% of the total.
A detailed media report is in the 6月份全国手机出货4248.8万部下降近三成，国产机处于“小学生”阶段 [China Industry Inside Network, July 12, 2013] which contains the explanation for the May market contraction as well. I will again include an already available explanation in English: China’s mobile phone shipment dips [ZDNet, July 12, 2013]
Some smaller cellphone manufacturers in China have been cutting production on inventory and funding issues, according to a Sina news report, which cited a report by First Financial Daily. iiMedia CEO Zhang Yi told the Chinese newspaper many Chinese brands also were adjusting their pace to reduce the frequency of new product launches as they aimed for higher profit.
Zhang believed consolidation among Chinese mobile phone brands and manufacturers would escalate in the following months.
Many domestic market players are struggling to stay afloat. Faced with falling margins and profits, smaller handset makers have been forced to close and these have included veteran market players in the market who had been in business for over two decades. OEM cellphone manufacturers are competing for orders, some agreeing to lower their profit to just 1 percent in order to secure the big orders.
A cellphone manufacturer told First Financial Daily that major local telcos, including China Mobile and China Telecom, were promoting mobile handsets priced between 299 and 499 yuan (US$48.7 to US$81.3), which basically cut off sales of other lower-end cellphone brands. The market was now a “playground for [well-known] foreign and domestic cellphone brands”, he added.
As far as the market share split between the leading brands the latest information was China market: Smartphone sales over 75 million units in 1Q13, says Analysys [DIGITIMES, May 22, 2013] and 78% of the market is shared by Top 10 vendors, with Samsung and Apple joint share just 24.1% while the domestic top brands held not less than 53.9%, according to the table below:
There were 90.54 million handsets sold in the China market during first-quarter 2013, growing 23.5% sequentially and 34.8% on year, and 75.28 million units of them were smartphones, increasing 32.2% sequentially and 141.5% on year, according to Analysys International.
Analysys: Main smartphone vendors in China by sales volume, 1Q13
Samsung: 17.3%
Lenovo: 13.1%
Coolpad: 10.3%
Huawei: 10.1%
ZTE: 6.9%
Apple: 6.4%
K-Touch: 4.1%
GiONEE: 3.8%
HTC: 3.1%
OPPO: 2.9%
Considering the well known Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE and HTC situation the most interesting Chinese brand for me quickly became GiONEE. Why?
With the Facebook message on September 5, 2012 of the GiONEE FB site:
If you are waiting something new, something that does not only fancy your eye but also touch your heart, wait just with patience and GiONEE is coming…
GiONEE came to the international scene. On September 27, 2012 we were told:
… here unveils the mystic 4.65 inch Android device from GiONEE: Super AMOLED Plus display with QHD resolution (960*540 pixels), 8.0 Mega pixels autofocus camera, 1.0 Mega pixels front-facing camera, dual core 1.2GHz CPU, Android OS v4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. …
referring definitely to a previous September 25, 2012 message and related image:
… see more about the Super AMOLED Plus screen. The color contrast ratio and brightness is the best, and it is most power saving. Do you like this?
I won’t detail further steps taken by the company on the international market, as documented on its Facebook site, but jump to the latest one of July 10:
Finally we unveil the latest flagship product of Elife series- Elife E6. We hope our fans and curious folks will like it.
the 2699 yuan price equals to not less than $440. Isn’t it too steep? GiONEE’s next message of July 10 seems to target that question with:
Full spec for E6
On July 13 we further learned that:
GIONEE E6 manufactured with CNC technology and handcraft [GioneeMobile YouTube channel, July 12, 2013]
Manufactured by a combination of Computerized Numerical Control Technology and Hand-polished craftsmen, ELIFE E6 brings you the precision of a machine and the delicacy of Hand Craftsmanship.
and on July 14:
ELIFE E6′s delicate hand-polished sides allow it to standup by itself in order to take handsfree photos. Never again would someone be left out of a group shot!
on July 16:
This is Gionee Elife E6 – the revolutionary smartphone with more than just a smartphone.
GIONEE ELIFE E6 Smartphone [GioneeMobile YouTube channel, July 14, 2013]
ELIFE E6 full Specifications 5.0″ FHD Quad- core 1.5GHz CPU Cortex-A7 Main CPU Single SIM 13.0MP AF+5.0MP FHD Android 4.2 Memory: 32GB+2GB Ultra slim 144 x 69 x7.7mm G-850/900/1800/1900MHZ ;( WCDMA900/2100MHz) 3.5mm earphone jack WIFI/GPS/BT4.0/FM/G-sensor Non-removable 2020mAh Battery
the next July 17:
ELIFE E6’s 5-inch LCD includes the latest LTPS Technology with 1080 pixels and ultra Retina Standards of 441 pixels; allowing you to view the the details of every moment
finally on July 18:
ELIFE E6’s Content Adaptive Backlight Control automatically adjusts screen brightness according to display, maximizing power consumption reduction, and allows power saving up to 30%
Next day we got reminded that:
With all the excitement surrounding Elife E6, don’t forget its 7.9mm curvy, colorful, and stylish little brother Elife E3!
Aha, that “little” device which was reported as Gionee’s Slim New Droid Totally Stole Samsung’s Thunder! [Gizmodo India, May 21, 2013]
… Just a day after Samsung flexed its muscles with a mid-range quad core dual-SIM offering – the Galaxy Grand Quattro, they’ve pretty much been left in the dust by, of all people – Gionee. The ELife E3, from the relatively unknown Chinese ODM (which entered India with its own brand earlier this year) seems to have whipped the Quattro in every department – at least on paper. Here’s the score-line of the tech-spec showdown:
ELife E3 vs Galaxy Grand Quattro: A 6-1 whipping!
1-0: 1.2GHz Quad Core A7 (Mediatek) vs 1.2GHz Quad Core A5 (Snapdragon)
2:0 16GB internal memory vs 8 GB
3:0 8MP/2MP rear/front cameras vs 5MP/VGA
4:0 Android Jelly Bean 4.2.1 vs 4.1.2
5:0 4.7″ IPS 1280×720 display vs 4.7″ 800×480
6:0 Priced at Rs. 15,000 [$252] vs Rs. 17,000 [$286]
6:1 1800 mAh battery vs 2000 mAh
Relative to all that above the original press release for E6 appeared as Gionee Launch ELIFE E6 smartphone – Simply Smart For all, the world’s first White OGS phone [Core Sector Communique, July 11, 2013] from which I will include here only those excerpts which provide additional information:
As the world’s first White OGS phone [OGS = One Glass Solution, touchscreen technology, see also the review within this], its 2.54mm narrow edge and 6.18mm thin miniature size allows it to slide comfortably into your pockets. … weighing only 128g …
Unibody Design
ELIFE E6’s innovative design features an unibody exterior in Pearl White and Stunning Black. …
The Best Display Technology across the Globe
Powered with a full HD Reality Display Resolution, 441PPI high pixel density and super bright AMOLED, ELIFE E6 automatically reduces 80% of sunlight reflection and increases the brightness of images by 20%, bringing you crispier and clearer razor sharp images. Full Lamination Technology allows 20% reduction in overall thickness and Light Transmittance increased by 10%.
Capturing Pictures Have Never Been Easier
ELIFE E6’s innovative camera technology redefines how photos are meant to be captured. Forget about dragging a camera around for high quality photos and videos. With the goal to make life better through technology, ELIFE E6’s camera sports the second generation of Backside Illumination Technology, antireflection coatings, anti-fingerprint film and finishes off with 5 layers of blue glasses, giving it its powerful 13MP rear-end camera for ease of picture taking and 1080P full HD video recording. Its 5MP front-facing camera comes with 12 levels of auto beauty effects, object tracing focus, instant facial beauty support and more; providing its user with Photoshop-polished photos with just a smile.
The GIONEE ELIFE E6 is available in black, white with matching color cases. ELIFE E6 will be available in China from Mid July 2013 with suggested retail price at CNY2699 and will be available in India, Nigeria, and Vietnam after August 2013.
About Gionee
Established in 2002, Gionee Communication Equipment Co. Ltd is a hi-tech company engaging in mobile device designing, R&D, manufacturing, sales in international markets, and mobile internet application services. Today, Gionee sells over 23 million handsets per year in China mainland alone. With innovation at the core of its R&D, in November 2011, Gionee ranked in as the No.3 brand in the 2G market and in August 2012, Gionee ranked in as the No. 2 in the GSM market. Gionee adheres to the motto “integrity, teamwork, innovation”.
Therefore I had two questions for GiONEE (I will add their answers as I get them):
1. Friday [July 19] at 5:41pm
GiONEE In the global press release – see it e.g. here: http://corecommunique.com/gionee-launch-elife-e6-smartphone-simply-smart-for-all-the-worlds-first-white-ogs-phone/- “White OGS” is indicated without any explanation. Even around the web I found only one explanation, as “OGS in white color”. If that is a right wording than it is still not understood. Could you explain?
2. Friday [July 19] at 5:38pm
Gionee India Is IPS Panel and 7.7 thickness is right for your country? As you published it with this picture: https://twitter.com/GioneeIndia/status/355217623287472128/photo/16.18mm
My problem is that in the global press release – see it e.g. here: http://corecommunique.com/gionee-launch-elife-e6-smartphone-simply-smart-for-all-the-worlds-first-white-ogs-phone/- 6.18mm thickness with OGS, super bright AMOLED and Full Lamination Technology has been stated, which is indeed possible with such things (vs. IPS).
Twitter / GioneeIndia: Gionee Elife E6 Specs compared …
…
Earlier information about GiONEE
From the company itself:
Gionee Brand Introduction Video- Who we are and what we do? [Gionee India YouTube channel, Feb 2, 2013]
Gionee is a global mobile phone brand with strong R&D and manufacturing facilities. A sneak peek into Gionee’s ideology, facilities and strengths. [… [4:39] Gionee has two single funded factories: Jinzhong Electronics Co., Ltd and Jinming Electronics Co., Ltd in Dongguan with 280 million RMB total manufacturing investment [= $45.6M], a plant area of over 60 thousand square meters, nearly 6,000 staff and annual production of 15 million sets. In 2011 the first phase of GiONEE Industrial Park was put into use covering an area of 330,000 square meters, with a total construction area of 300,000 square meters, and a total investment of more than 1 billion RMB [= $163M]. After completed and put into operation the annual production capacity of second phase will reach 80 million sets, which will become one of the largest and best professional mobile manufacturing bases in China. [5:35] …[7:49] In the export market GiONEE’s monthly sales volume in overseas markets has exceeded 800,000 sets, ranking No. 3 among the ODM market for opne channels. At present GiONEE maintains business contact with more than 20 regions and countries, with products sold to the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, India, Vietnam, Thailand, and other regions and countries. [8:14] … [at the very end:] GiONEE Mobile Phone strives to win the global market with its excellent quality. ]
From the content it becomes obvious that this company video was produced well back in 2012, presumably around August 2012 when the ‘About’ was first published as given here: Brand_GiONEE Communication Equipment Co., Ltd ShenZhen [with first content in Aug 15, 2012]
“An international fast growing brand”
Established in 2002, Gionee is a hi-tech company engaged in mobile device designing, R&D, manufacturing, and sales in international markets, and offering mobile internet application service.Gionee started the international branding firstly in China mainland in 2005 which was the gold mine for global investors and enterprises. Now Gionee sells over 23 million handsets per year in China mainland, ranking as No.3 brand in 2G market share after Samsung and Nokia in Nov 2011, and No. 2 in GSM market after Samsung in Aug 2012.
As a brand to be recognized as durable, long standby and easy to use, Gionee now is featured with new tags like fashionable, stylish, and premium user experience. Many Asian super stars have high praise for Gionee products and they are willing to tell people how nice the products are.
Asian super star Mr. Andy Lau, Korean TV play star, all young men’s dream princess, Miss. Yun Enh Huy, Taiwan movie prince Eric Ruan, the most popular music band Phoenix Legend in China mainland, etc, all have acted in Gionee product movies and the beautiful mobile phone stories once moved thousands of people.
Since 2011, Gionee moved rapidly for branding in Nigeria, Vietnam, Taiwan, Myanmar, India, Thailand, Phillips [Philippines], and so on. And once launched one product, it soon became a best seller in the market, even in some cities and countries customers need to wait for new deliveries. Gionee is a hot word as everyone is talking about where to buy one.
Gionee is working for the No.1 brand which is most welcomed by customers. The praises from Gionee customers is the only precious crown for Gionee.
Gionee Industrial Park Manufacturing Facility Video [Gionee India YouTube channel, March 4, 2013]
A sneak peek into manufacturing facility of Gionee Mobiles.
described in Manufacture_GiONEE Communication Equipment Co., Ltd ShenZhen [with first content in Aug 3, 2012]
With a total investment of more than 1 billion RMB and an area of 330,000 square meters, Phase 1 of Gionee Industrial Park was completed and went into production in 2006, with an annual production capacity of 40 million units. After the project is completed, the park’s annual production capacity will hit 80 million units as China’s largest and best professional mobile phone manufacturing base.
Gionee products are now selling to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Russia, Middle East and Africa. The export already increased to 1 Million phones per month to the overseas market.
A tight partnership with MediaTek and Qualcomm allows Gionee to offer a wide product portfolio covering both low end feature phone and high end smartphone. As all products are designed and manufactured by Gionee and as the company is only working with tier-1 suppliers, Gionee is awarded the Best Quality Mobile Phone Manufacturer in China.
Welcome to visit our industrial park!
Finally RD_GiONEE Communication Equipment Co., Ltd ShenZhen [with first content in Aug 3, 2012]
The company has over 10,000 employees, out of which 1000 belong to R&D and 8000 belong to the factory.
Technology reflects the strength of an enterprise; R&D is the key to sharpen the competitive edge of mobile phone industry chain roundly, and Gionee always insists on the strategy of independent R&D and innovation. At present, Gionee’s R&D system mainly comprises six professional R&D organs: Application R&D Institute, Smartphone R&D Institute, Overseas BU R&D Institute, CDMA R&D Institute, GOSO R&D Institute and AORA R&D Institute.
Persistence in quality is the impetus for Gionee’s sustained development. With deep R & D as core, lean manufacturing as foundation, outstanding after-sale service as guarantee and high-tech products as core competitiveness, Gionee has kept developing practical and handy products. Gionee has persisted in independent R & D by establishing professional R & D institutions in cities like Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hangzhou, thus ensuring its outstanding R & D performance.
And I will include here the following 3d party information as a very relevant one:
Gionee UX Design Training – PEOPEO [Peopeo UX Training information, Aug 9, 2012]
Introduction:
Peopeo was contracted by Gionee to give their headquarter team in Shenzhen a series of training program around user centered product design and development. Different level of teams, from management, product manager, designer, and engineers, had participated in this training course, to form a consistent acknowledgement.
Content:
Nowadays China is at a period of changing from Made in China to Designed by China, all companies have to facing such a challenge. Only through a professional user experience centered product design and development process, through in-depth research and understating on the users, the companies can save tremendous cost, can develop better product which meet users’ demands, fir users’ habits, bring users with great experience, hence win the market.
For companies like Gionee, while they compete with other big phone companies and other big companies in the internet industry, they have to establish a different competitive strategies and form a localized strategic advantage. So they have to have a clear understanding of user experience, to make UCD as the core in the product development process, which need to be implemented in the future work and to be reflected in all aspects of the company operation; they have to have a coherent, consistent user-centric and unified understanding, and put them into specific implementation, to ensure that users’ needs are met, to ensure that the users have expected user experience, and to further help the company to establish the core DNA.
Peopeo senior consultants Tingbin Tang, Sean Wee and Kelly Shi provided Gionee team this training. Courses combined with a large number of classical and forward-looking cases; together with presentations and discussions to improve every training participants’ knowledge and skills for user-centric design and development process. Including: lecture; case studies; interactive games; video playback; Q&A discussion; interactive workshops, etc.
From my trend-tracking blog, ‘Experiencing the Cloud’:
Be aware of ZTE et al. and white-box (Shanzhai) vendors: Wake up call now for Nokia, soon for Microsoft, Intel, RIM and even Apple! [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, Feb 21, 2011]
While the mainstream business model for manufacturing and distributing mobile handsets remains leveraging the OBM/ODM/OEM/EMS model, a whole new paradigm has developed within China’s domestic market, according to a new report from Digitimes Research.
The local China-based industry called “Shanzhai,” but translated as “white box,” is based on small-scale or underground factories whose products are seldom sold through regular sales channels, but the scale of the market now rivals that of global top-10 brands or major Chinese brands in the domestic China market, Digitimes Research pointed out. The “white-box” industry currently accounts for more than 100 million handset shipments, and some players in the market, such as K-Touch (Beijing Tianyu Communication Equipment) and Gionee have made the leap to become recognized brands.
…
According to MediaTek, the upcoming handset solution, codenamed as MT6252, supports serial flash memory and is cost efficient for handset makers as it uses lesser passive devices and smaller printed circuit board than existing solutions. Also, the MediaTek solution supports four-SIM, four-standby mobile phones, convincing the mainland`s home-grown handset makers including Gionee Communications Equipment, Ragentek Communication Technology Co., Ltd. and Leatek Technologies International Co., Ltd. to support it.
Boosting the MediaTek MT6575 success story with the MT6577 announcement – UPDATED with MT6588/83 coming
early 2013
in Q42012 and 8-core MT6599 in 2013 [June 27, July 27, Sept 11-13, Sept 26, Oct 2, 2012]
Digitimes Research believes that market share rankings for the China smartphone market will change significantly during 2012. Samsung and Apple will take the top two places, while the big four China-based brands –Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo and Coolpad – will take third to sixth places, whileNokia will drop to seventh; these seven firms will collectively account for 85% of shipments.
In other words, the many other brands hoping to seize a share of the market will essentially be confined to competing for a potential market of just 15% of overall shipments or around 21 million handsets. Given such a situation, Digitimes Research projects that many of China’s best known smaller brandssuch as Xiaomi, TCL, Gionee, Tianyu, Oppo and BBK will see shipments of no more than a few million handsets.
…
Industry sources claim that China’s smartphone prices could drop to RMB 600 in H2 2012 due to increasing availability of low-priced smartphone chips. Smartphones featuring Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company MediaTek’s (MTK) MT6573 processor are available on B2C e-commerce sites such as Taobao and Paipai for RMB 800 and below. MediaTek’s MT6575 chipset, released in March, has already appeared in handsets from domestic handset vendors such as Lenovo (0992.HK), Gionee, ZTE (0763.HK; 000063.SZ), and Yulong (Coolpad), as well as foreign brands such as Motorola. The MT6575 is currently available for between RMB 1,000 to RMB 1,500. Taiwanese chipmaker MStar Semiconductor plans to release its first dual-core chipset solution for RMB 1,000 smartphones next week.
The low priced, Android based smartphones of China will change the global market [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, Sept 10, 2012]
Stellar growth sees China take 27% of global smart phone shipments, powered by domestic vendors [Canalys press release, Aug 2, 2012] – Android is the clear platform of choice, accounting for 81% of Chinese shipments … Local tier-one vendors have worked hard in recent quarters to greatly improve their brand resonance among consumers and to expand and enhance their relationships and influence within operators,’ said Canalys Research Director for China, Nicole Peng. ‘But the tier-two vendors — the likes of Oppo, K-Touch and Gionee — have also stamped their mark, boosting smart phone shipments into tier-three and tier-four cities, predominantly through the open channels. As feature phone vendors, they already have established partnerships and strong brand awareness. These domestic vendors are making significant progress transitioning their portfolios and customer bases to be more focused on smart phones.’
Apple Should Take The $199 Chinese Smartphone Seriously [Seeking Alpha, Sept 6, 2012] At a time when China is set to overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest smartphone market, little-known Chinese firms are prepared to battle it out for market dominance with the maker of the game-changing iPhone, Apple (AAPL). … There are a number of Chinese brands offering similar capabilities, nominally, as the iPhone at half the price, most of them using a forked version of Google’s (GOOG) Android. The names include ZTE Corp., Lenovo Group, and other small private firms like Xiaomi, Gionee, and Meizu Technology. Even cheaper smartphones are offered by Alibaba Group, Shanda Interactive, and Baidu (BIDU) for fewer than ¥1,000 (~$150 U.S.).
MediaTek MT6589 quad-core Cortex-A7 SoC with HSPA+ and TD-SCDMA is available for Android smartphones and tablets of Q1 delivery [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, Dec 12, 2012]
Currently Oppo, ZTE, Huawei, Lenovo, Gionee and even Sony have confirmed to be working on phones using the new quad-core CPU, with prices from some smaller brands expected to start at around $200.
Eight-core MT6592 for superphones and big.LITTLE MT8135 for tablets implemented in 28nm HKMG are coming from MediaTek to further disrupt the operations of Qualcomm and Samsung [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, July 20, 2013]
[Part 2] MediaTek to push 8 small cores, the mystery [ESM 国际电子商情 (International Electronic Business), July 18, 2013] exclusive interview … [with] Zhu Shangzu (朱尚祖), MediaTek Global Smartphone General Manager … Judging from the current situation, customers of high-end flagship phones are still using the products of the competitors, but there is flagship in our quad-core case as well, and OPPO, Vivo and GiONEE and other quad-core phones are also very popular. Our next goal is to get the customers of flagship machines using our platform via helping customers to achieve stronger performance on the big screen multimedia.
From current media reports:
Gionee and Opera get more people connected [Opera press release, Jan 24, 2013]
Opera Software and Gionee, one of the TOP 3 mobile phone brand in China and famous global smartphone solution supplier, are working together to get more people connected with the Opera Mini mobile phone browser.
Opera Mini will be pre-installed in Gionee’s Android-based smartphones to give Gionee users quick access to the internet. These handsets are already available in Vietnam and Nigeria.
Gionee always highlights innovation and makes continuous efforts to bring new features to its users, and is known as a leading provider of mobile phone solutions, products and services to global market.
“The trend that smartphones are replacing feature phones requires more of our inputs in high-end mobile platforms such as Android,” said William Lu, vice president, Gionee. “With a better browser for Android, Opera Mini, in the mix, we can bring better user experience to our customers.”
Opera is one of the most used mobile browsers with 229 million users worldwide. Opera Mini is designed for fast browsing on both 2G and 3G networks.
“The best possible user experience on any device and any network is what Opera works toward,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “With Opera Mini, Gionee will provide its users with all the advantages that Opera Mini users benefit from, including its speed and ease of use.”
Gionee has also launched Opera Mini in its Java and MRE based feature phones.
Lenovo, Huawei, Coolpad, Gionee, Xiaomi: 5 Chinese ‘Underdog’ Smartphone Brands Taking Your Sales [International Business Times, Feb 25, 2013]
Apple has been at the top of the smartphone industry since it came out with the iPhone. Five iterations later, it still holds a pretty big share of the industry. But lately, Chinese brands are making a name for themselves, starting in their own country.
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Gionee
The good
Gionee’s flagship phone, Dream D1 features a 4.65-inch display with super AMOLED, a 1.2GHz Cortex A7 Processor, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS, 1 GB RAM, 4 GB of Rom with microSD card, an 8-megapixel rear camera, and a 1-megapixel front camera, reports GoTechMax.
The bad
Aside from the lower-than-normal pixel count of the camera, Gionee’s Dream D1 also has an HD 720p display, so you can’t expect full HD. Otherwise, it gives a pretty solid run for a phone that’s rumored to be sold at Rs 10,000 in India (approximately $185 USD), reports Droidify.
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Cornucopia of Choices Spurs Smartphone Market to Double by End of 2017 [IHS iSuppli press release, July 17, 2013]
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Apple’s iPhone franchise appears to be stalling as first-quarter shipments of 37.4 million fell below expectations. With the next iPhone model not expected until the second half of the year, there is a real possibility that the full-year 2013 sales volume of the iPhone may be essentially flat at around 150 million units, compared to 134 million units in 2012.
“The possible slowing growth of the iPhone and the rapid pace of competitive smartphones releases speak to the ferocious nature of the handset business, especially now as the market continues to pivot from a market dominated by lower-end handsets known as feature phones to one that is increasingly smartphone-centric,” Lam said.
Outshipped
The trend of deeper smartphone penetration continued in the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first quarter this year, as smartphones outshipped feature phones in the overall branded cellphone market.
After a seasonally high fourth quarter, which saw total mobile handset shipments topping 400 million units for the first time, handset shipments in the first quarter of 2013 contracted by nearly 50 million units quarter-over-quarter, keeping with seasonal sales trends.
Samsung continued its strong growth in the first quarter with a sequential increase of 9 million units, while brands such as Coolpad and Gionee outshipping the likes of HTC and Motorola in the first quarter.
Chinese smartphone OEMs were able to accomplish such growth on the back of a catalog of largely affordable smartphones, while Samsung rolled out a number of low-cost variants to its high-end flagship products.
These competitive forces, as well as changing consumer demand, will place pressures not only on Apple but also on other OEMs, IHS believes, forcing players to innovate and diversify smartphone offerings in order to continue growing.
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Gionee To Launch Series Of Smart Phones In India [EFYTimes.com portal, Feb 19, 2013]
Established in 2002, Gionee is a specialized mobile device design company from China. Gionee over the years has believed in keeping Innovation as its Core Value Proposition which has helped the company’s growth over the last decade. Research & Development is an institution with over 2000 employees. A state of the art In house Manufacturing Unit ensures Gionee products deliver more than the best to its customers, creating new benchmarks of quality each time.
Gionee currently sells over 23 million handsets per year in China mainland and has been ranked No. 2 brand in the GSM market. With an investment of over 160 Million Dollars and 8000 employees, Gionee has a current annual production capacity of 40 million units. The company is already in the process of expansion with an area of 330,000 square meters, the Gionee Industrial Park is China’s largest and best managed mobile phone manufacturing facility unit on completion will have an annual production to hit 80 million units. Gionee’s export is in access of a million units monthly catering to well established brands overseas as an ODM.
Gionee will be launching its entire range of mobile devices in India, from feature phones to smart phones with a special focus on the smart phones. Gionee promises to offer its Indian customers the best in class experience, every time and would be available with its entire range of products for Indian customers by the end of Feb 2013. Gionee has also tied up 4 leading import and distribution and import partners including based out of Chandigarh, Jaipur, Kolkata & Bangaluru.
To support the India Operations Gionee has already set up an office in New Delhi and is in the process of building the core team. The India Office will help strengthen its brand presence by providing Marketing / Sales Support / Service Support to its Indian Partners & Consumers. The office will be playing a key role in product testing / validation and customization for the India Market. The India Office has already appointed Goosebumps as their Advertising agency and Intellect Digest as its Digital Media Partner.
Gionee has always believed in an integrated business approach and has therefore based its biz on its 3 pillars of strength being Own Design/ Own Manufacturing/ Own R&D. A <font c