Huawei, which is the second largest smartphone maker in the world, now intends to start manufacturing its smartphones and other accessories in India. Additionally, the manufacturer has also announced plans to open over 1,000 retail stores in the country.
Huawei‘s plans were revealed by the company’s Global vice president Jim Xu. “We look at India strategically and now intend to grow our presence in the country by launching devices for the middle and premium price segments,” Xu was quoted as saying by ToI.
The likes of Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo also manufacture their smartphones in India, but their models mainly range from the lower and middle price segment. Samsung is currently the only brand that manufactures its flagship smartphone in India. The South Korean giant recently also unveiled the world’s largest phone factory in India. Honor, which showed 400 percent sales growth in India, according to Huawei, could become the leading brand in the country by 2021.
Xu further said that Huawei plans to “increase production”, and manufacture all its mobile phones in India, especially considering the taxation of nearly 20 percent on imported equipment. At the moment, the company’s strategy is to import a limited number of mobile phones. Although, in the near future, the company plans to invest $100 million in the construction of retail shops, and 1,000 stores will be opened in the next 2-3 years.
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For the manufacturing of the smartphones, Huawei has planned to work with the manufacturing partner Flex, which has a factory set up in Chennai for local production. Huawei had recently accounted for $153 million on global smartphone sales in 2017, and is currently the largest smartphone maker in China. Its presence outside China is also growing, expanding its smartphone lineup in Europe and USA, where it accounts for over 20 percent in overall smartphone sales growth.
