Dubai: Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has launched its P8 smartphone at an affordable price as the high-end segment is getting saturated.
Huawei is ranked second in the Middle East and Africa market with a market share of 8.9 per cent and fourth globally with a market share of 5.7 per cent in 2014, according to research firm International Data Corporation.
According to the research firm, increased availability of cheaper mobile phones and dual-SIM devices in the Middle East and Africa has fuelled a year-on-year growth of 19.6 per cent in volume in 2014.
Nabila Popal, research manager for handsets and display solutions at International Data Corporation Middle East and Africa, said that Huawei has experienced a wave of growth in the mid to low-end segment.
Ashraf Fawakherji, vice-president of Huawei Device Middle East, told Gulf News that the company is confident of achieving around 20 per cent growth in regional sales this year and strengthen its market share.
“Our growth is steady and promising. We are getting positive feedback from markets and consumers, especially in the high-end segment and from UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. So, we are getting motivated to innovate further and enhance our market share,” Fawakherji said.
P8 will come in two versions. The first version with 32GB storage capacity is priced at Dh1699 and 32GB version for Dh1899. The 32GB version will be available in the first week of June.
The phone looks similar to an iPhone than other smartphones in the market with more square edges.
The 5.2-inch dual-SIM device is powered by home-grown 64-bit Kirin 930 octa-core chipset that offers 2GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 and 1.5 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53.
The 6.4mm thin phone sports a 3GB of RAM and 128GB external storage capacity via microSD card. It houses 13 MP autofocus and dual-LED (dual tone) flash rear camera and 8MP front camera.
Huawei claims that P8 is the first device to offer RGBW (red, green, blue and white) sensor to enhance brightness by 32 per cent in high contrast lighting situations and reduce it by 78 per cent in low light environments.
The company, which launched its first wearable device — TalkBand B1 — in September, is keen to launch more models in the coming months.
“We will have a range of wearables in the next few months. The market is promising but still in the early stage. I believe it is the trend for the future despite being challenging. The TalkBand 2, which can track users steps, calories and sleep pattern also has a Bluetooth earpiece incorporated, will be available in June,” Fawakherji said.
