Lenovo plans to launch smartphones priced under Rs 5000

Keeping in mind the growing smartphone market, many industry players have been diverting towards mobile businesses. Lenovo , one such relatively newer entrant into the smartphone space, now plans to offer extremely affordable smartphones. According to a report, Lenovo is planning to launch smartphones for less than Rs 5000.

Nick Reynolds, Executive Director, Worldwide Product Marketing, Lenovo, told Business Line that Lenovo is watching the space because they know there are people who are upgrading from feature phones to smartphones, and that is a big trend in emerging markets today.

Will Lenovo bring a sub-5k smartphone to the Indian market?

Lenovo has an ambitious plan of selling more than one million smartphones in India. In a price-sensitive market like ours, a budget smartphone under Rs 5000 appears to be a great move. Reynolds also revealed that the company plans to sell Lenovo smartphones at various price points. So, this year we may probably see low to high range Lenovo smartphones. The company currently sells sixty different phone models in China. It plans to bring other phone models to India too, as its business grows here.

Reportedly, another reason is its shrinking PC business which has compelled the company to search for greener pastures with smartphone sales.  The PC market has been a challenge for a while now, owing to tablets and newer hybrid type of devices. Though IDC expects the global PC shipment numbers to fall by 8 percent this year, the numder of PC shipments saw a rise in India in 2012 compared to 2011 by 5.5 percent.

The smartphone market in India is highly competitive. Lenovo will face stiff competition from giants like Samsung and Nokia, which are quite popular in the low to mid phone segment. Lenovo also plans to expand partnership with its partners such as Ingram, Advanced Computer and Redington for tier 2 and tier 3 cities.