The Mid-range devices were essentially occupied more percentage of the Smartphone sales in 2014; this is where Xiaomi, Motorola and many other Chinese manufacturers had been successful in targeting. The likes of Moto G and Mi3 which priced around Rs.12,000-14,000 had done very well; where the similar spec Smartphones from Samsung, HTC and LG are priced over Rs.25,000. Now, HTC is coming up with an India-first smartphone that is expected to launch in Q3 of 2015. According to Chang, they will be pricing the device at Rs.15,000-20,000.
“We have a third-quarter plan for our global launch in India to introduce a device which is specifically designed for the Indian consumer,” Chia-Lin Chang, president of global sales and CFO HTC said in an interview with a news publication. We will be testing the devices first in India, before launching them in the global market. If we can serve the Indian market, then we will able to serve the global market well, he added.
The past week, Xiaomi had launched an Indian specific device ‘Mi 4i’ at a price of Rs.12,999. They even had plans to manufacture the devices locally and will be setting up R&D centre in Bangalore, India.
HTC have done well at sub Rs.20,000 price segment with Desire series. Before making devices manufactured locally, they want to give the best experience for their customers from the innovations or the designs came from the R&D labs. Recently, Asus had revealed its intention to set-up a manufacturing plant in India. Altogether this boosts the India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative to manufacture locally.
HTC has about 6% share of the Smartphone market in India and 8% in terms of value. They will be targeting 10% of market share in terms of volume by the end of March, 2016 and will be increasing the distribution network of 14,000 outlets to 20,000; as said by Chang.
