Huawei is on the rise right now thanks to large-screened phones like the new P9. Photo credit: Huawei.
Huawei yesterday launched its flagship smartphone Huawei P9 in India. The company also announced that it plans to build a factory for its phones in the country.
“We already have licences for manufacturing. In the short-term, we will announce our local manufacturing plan,” said Peter Zhai, president of the Chinese company’s Indian business consumer group. He expects India to be the company’s second largest market after China.
The P9 costs US$597 – expensive for the price-conscious Indian market.
Huawei in India will invest heavily in its “offline retail channel”, meaning lots of stores in cities, says Peter, who alluded that products for the country would involve localization.
Huawei has had a R&D team in Bengaluru for over 15 years, and built a facility that cost US$170 million last year. While it didn’t launch the Huawei P8 in India, its super-cheap Honor brand has been active and sells on both Flipkart and Amazon.
According to data from Kantar Worldpanel Comtech, Huawei controls 25.7 percent of China’s smartphone market. Right now, the Huawei P9 is sold online on Flipkart and costs US$597 – expensive for the price-conscious Indian market.
Peter said that Huawei plans to capture ten percent of the country’s mobile phone market. According to IDC data, the first half of the year had Samsung leading in the country, taking up over a quarter of the country’s mobile market share.
There were rumors earlier this year that iPhone manufacturer Foxconn was planning to set up a factory in India.
Editing by Terence Lee and Michael Tegos
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