Nubia Z11 and Nubia N1 launch in India: Can ZTE manage to compete with the existing players?

Chinese smartphone and telecom equipment maker ZTE is all set to announce two new smartphones in India next week. The company has sent out invitation which confirms the launch of the Nubia Z11 and Nubia N1 in India on December 14. If you remember, ZTE announced the Nubia Z11 in China back in June. The smartphone sounds pretty good on paper featuring a  5.5-inch full HD IPS LCD display with a 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass 3 on top and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor on the inside clocked at 2.15GHz . There is a 16MP rear camera with a dual-tone LED flash, PDAF, and OIS while on the front there is an 8MP selfie camera with f/2.4 aperture. Other features include Android 6.0, a 3,000mAh battery with quick Charge 3.0, hybrid SIM slot (nano SIM+nano SIM/microSD card), a fingerprint scanner, 4G LTE, Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi, GPS/ A-GPS/GLONASS, and a USB Type-C port. At its time of announcement in China, the company had announced two variants, 4GB of RAM with 64GB storage and 6GB of RAM with 128GB storage. The smartphones were priced at CNY 2,499 (Rs 25,000 approx) and CNY 3,499 (Rs. 35,000 approx). While the Z11 was announced as a sub-flagship smartphone, the Nubia N1 sits right below it. Like the Z11, the N1 was also launched in China earlier this year. This one features a 5.5-inch full HD LTPS IPS LCD display and is powered by a Mediatek Helio P10 octa-core processor paired with 3GB of RAM. It comes with 64GB of inbuilt storage with an option to expand it via a microSD slot up to 128GB. At the back there is a 13MP camera with PDAF, f/2.2 aperture, and LED flash. On the front there is another 13MP camera with beauty filters and smart fill light to take selfies. Probably the best feature of the device is its 5,000mAh battery. Other features include Android 6.0, Dolby Atmos audio, a fingerprint sensor at the back, a hybrid SIM slot (nano SIM+nano SIM/microSD card) and connectivity options like 4G LTE with VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS/ A-GPS/GLONASS, and USB Type-C support. If priced well, the Z11 could go against smartphones under the Rs 30,000 mark like the OnePlus 3/3T, LeEco LeMax 2 and the Honor 8. As for the N1, the company is expected to price it over the Rs 15,000 price range since it already has the Nubia Z11 mini  priced under the Rs 15,000.  Unlike its Chinese rivals, ZTE hasn’t managed to sell a good bulk of smartphones in India. One of the reasons is how the company markets itself. Recently the company launched the  Nubia Z11 mini in India with a price tag of Rs 12,999. With such stiff competition and popular names in the market, that smartphone hasn’t seen any interest from consumers. Smartphone buyers in India prefer something that is well known rather than experimenting with something new.

ZTE has not been aggressive in the past but if it can bring its range of devices on time, at a reasonable price and provide a good customer experience (after sales and software updates), it stands a chance to attract more potential buyers. The Nubia brand was launched in India with an online-only sales model. That space is a bit clouded as only a section of smartphone buyers in India buy online. A major chunk still prefers to have a look and feel of the device before buying one. Apart from selling online the company should look at opening offline stores especially in remote towns. Of course that will mean pumping out a lot of money but with the government’s Make in India programme, the company can make full use just like other smartphone players in the market.