Dubai
The third largest smartphone manufacturer Lenovo is expected to sell 70 million smartphones globally this year compared to 50 million units last year, an industry expert told Gulf News.
“2014 will be a big year for Lenovo. It has expanded cautiously over the past year; growing from its home market in China to targeted markets such as the UAE and Russia. It has yet to make a big splash in many Western markets such as the US,” said Daniel Gleeson, mobile analyst at IHS Electronics and Media.
Strong growth
He said Lenovo will continue its strong growth in 2014 and will add more markets to its reach. The Chinese vendor is expected to increase its market share to 5.4 per cent this year compared to 4.5 per cent of the global smartphone market last year.
Sharay Shams, business head of smart devices at Lenovo Middle East and Africa, said that the company aims to attain double digit market share from the region this year.
“We expect to become a serious contender in the smartphone space. The industry is moving to bigger screen sizes and Lenovo is poised to take advantage of that,” he said after launching the new 5.5 inch Vibe Z in the UAE.
Solid
Gleeson said the Vibe Z looks like a very solid phone based on its hardware. However, competing against the Samsung Galaxy Note requires more than just that. The Note distinguishes itself with its stylus and the extra functionality that Samsung has built in around using the stylus as well as other productivity enhancements such as dual-window mode.
Lenovo lags behind Samsung in technology. Samsung will likely always have an “advantage in technology” given its in-house capabilities in displays, memory and semiconductors.
“Lenovo has shown with its PC business that it is a fierce competitor though and I would imagine that it will be able to compete very well with Samsung,” Gleeson said.
“With the expansion of our smartphone portfolio, Lenovo continues to diversify its business and build a strong foundation for the future in the PC Plus era. This is a testament to Lenovo’s rapid ongoing transformation into a PC Plus company,” said Oliver Ebel, Vice-President for Lenovo Middle East and Africa.
