Is HTC declaring a war on Micromax, Xiaomi & Lava?
The competition in India’s affordable smartphone market category is heating up. On one hand we have the Chinese and local handset manufacturers slugging it out in the ring for the coveted ‘affordable-and-most-loved-phones-of-Indians’ tag, on the other hand we also have the biggies like Samsung, Motorola, and others making their best efforts to grab a good market share in the affordable handset category.
HTC is the latest to join the bandwagon. It is not that we haven’t seen affordable handsets from the manufacturer, but now HTC has revealed that it will try to make it big in the mid-range smartphone category i.e. Rs 8,000-15,000. According to a PTI report, HTC plans to launch several new devices in this category, including several 4G enabled devices, and is hoping to grab 7.5-8% market share in the next six months.
It goes without saying that HTC would face stiff competition from Micromax, Lava and Xiaomi—these handset manufacturers currently own a major market share in the affordable smartphone category in India. The big question is: How would HTC win over the existing players?
For those unaware, HTC currently own 5% market share and has very less options retailing under the Rs 10,000 category. This clearly inducates that HTC would need a well-defined strategy to win over the competition. When HTC President (Global Sales) Chia-Lin Chang was asked how HTC aims to achieve this target, he informed that “We will broaden our price play horizons at both ends. India is an important market for us. If HTC has to do good globally, India numbers have to be positive.”
HTC surely has an interesting game plan, which if executed well, might give shudders to existing top players in the affordable smartphone category. And for consumers this would result in more options. Interesting!