Honor targets 10 per cent share in Indian smartphone market

New Delhi: Chinese telecom firm Huawei's sub-brand Honor said on Tuesday that it is looking to garnet 10 per cent market share in India within three years to be among the top three players in the country.

As per Counterpoint Research, Honor had 3.4 per cent market share in the March quarter this year, up from 1.4 per cent in the year-ago period, putting it among the top five in the Indian smartphone market.

"We expect there will be at least 300 million smartphones that will be sold in the country in next 3 years. For being among top three, we will need to have 10 per cent of this market potential," Huawei India-Consumer Business Group, Vice President Sales, P Sanjeev.

He said that Honor has recorded over three-fold jump in sales during the first half of this year compared to the entire year's sales in 2017. "Our (Honor) sales have grown by about 330 per cent in first half of this year compared to our sales for full year in 2017," Sanjeev said after launching Honor 9N series smartphones.

He said that sales of company has accelerated after it looked at need of consumers at various price points. "80 per cent consumers buy phone below Rs 15,000 price range. Of this, 55 per cent consumers buy smartphones priced below Rs 10,000 and 15 per cent in the range of Rs 8,000-10,000 a unit. With Honor 7A, Honor 7C (priced at Rs 8,999, Rs 9,999) and Honor 9N we are reaching out to addressable market," Sanjeev said.

The company unveiled three variants of Honor 9N ranging from Rs 11,999 to Rs 17,999. "We sold 1 million units of Honor Lite in 90 days. For Honor 9N we expect to sell at least 1.5 times more than Honor 9 Lite. In online segment market share is 26 per cent and overall we must have around 5 per cent," Sanjeev said.

The further said, "Now we have over all infrastructure to be among top three players. Honor 9N is our first device which has been made from CKD (completely knocked down) level. We will be able to scale our operation to meet market demand."

He said that China market has declined and company has become more focussed on India market as smartphone segment in the country is growing at 14 per cent annually.