A report published by a leading Indian media company claims that these new Huawei experience centers will be used to showcase smartphones, smart speakers and laptops
Huawei, a China-based smartphone brand, is reportedly planning to start manufacturing phones in India from next year. The brand is also planning to open around 1,000 exclusive experience centers in the country. A report published by a leading Indian daily also claims that these new Huawei experience centers, once set up, will be used to showcase Huawei’s smartphones, smart devices, laptops and smart speakers.
The brand has just launched the Mate 20 Pro in India at a price of Rs 69,990. However, the consumers in the country may not find the latest Huawei smartphone tempting owing to the fact that there are premium smartphones available at much lower price bands. Huawei is betting on the ‘AI-enabled triple camera’ in its latest smartphone.
Focus on offline expansion
Wally Yang, senior marketing director at Huawei Consumer Business Group, told the leading daily that the company is initiating offline expansion with Huawei Mate 20 Pro. It is to be noted here that the company has partnered with Croma stores to make Huawei Mate 20 Pro available in many Indian metro cities starting December 10, 2018. The company is already selling Huawei Honor smartphones in the offline channel.
A report published by Counterpoint Research said that Huawei and Honor had 3 per cent combined market share during the July-September quarter.
Tough competition from other Chinese players
The smartphone market in India is currently led by Chinese smartphone brands including Xiaomi, Realme, Oppo, Vivo and OnePlus. Huawei will face tough competition in India as the entry smartphone segment is largely led by players like Xiaomi, whereas the premium smartphone segment is led by the likes of OnePlus, Samsung and Apple.
In comparison to Huawei Mate 20 Pro with three rear cameras, which was launched at a price of Rs 69,990, Samsung is already offering A7 smartphone with three cameras setup for an amount of 23,990 on its website. OnePlus 6T, a smartphone in the premium category is currently retailing for a starting price of Rs 37,999. Samsung Galaxy A9, a smartphone with four cameras setup is retailing for a starting price of Rs 36,990 in the country.
Huawei is one among the largest device makers in China. In 2017, Huawei sold around 153 million smartphones in global sales.
