If the likes of Elephone, iNew, Doogee, Mlais and are feeling the heat now, 2016 is going to be a furnace.
Due to economic slowdown in China, several heavy hitters are shifting their focus will be entering the smartphone market soon. Here are the manufacturers to keep an eye on.
Gree Electric Appliances
Gree Electric Appliances is an air conditioner manufacturer based in Guangdong, and are set to release an Android handset by the end of 2015. The phones will be marketed under the Gree brand and sold through their air conditioner dealerships.
Sany Heavy Industry
Sany Heavy Industry is a maker of construction equipment and are planning on releasing a tough phone in 2015. Sany will use their already wide net and credibility as a maker of heavy equipment to market their tough phone.
Haier Group
Home appliance maker Haier is one we know about and they’ve already produced a few phones. Haier is best known for their washing machines and refrigerators.
TCL
TCL, mainly known for their televisions is another brand that has been in the phone game for a while, but according to rumors, they intend to focus more on their smartphone end of business. TCL is building new phone factories in India and Brazil, and have strong plans to push heavy into emerging markets.
Their current goal is to boost phone sales by 30% this year, which would put it ahead of they’re television division.
Midea Group & Xiaomi
Midea Group, another home appliance manufacturer, has received $203 million from Xiaomi. This deal will tie the them together in developing products that combine smartphone and home appliance technologies and patents.
Alibaba & Meizu
Ever increasing their net, Alibaba Group Holding has invested $590 in Meizu. They will be combining their forces to push the Meizu brand name and Alibaba sales channels.
Tencent Holdings
Tencent holdings, China’s biggest Internet is also moving into the smartphone market. They’re currently shifting focus from their game and PC business, to smartphones.
Competition is good for consumers, and I think it will mean seeing some of the current players fall out of the game, as heavy hitters with tons of capital, already established retail networks, relatively long histories and experience with mass manufacturing bully their way in.
We’ve also seen big name mobile manufacturers such as Samsung begin to shift a large portion of their models over to the mid-range and budget market.
It also means that the consumer will have a huge selection of quality, high-spec budget models to choose from, and putting up with second rate quality and support to save dough may not be necessary.
I think brands such as Jiayu and THL will be able to maintain, as they have a strong cult following and make very good phones, but brands putting out high-spec devices with suspect build, and focusing on marketing as opposed to creating quality devices, will have a tough time surviving in this jungle.
Please post your thoughts in the comments.
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