Affordable handsets produced for less developed markets

A woman uses a mobile handset produced by Shenzhen-based Transsion Holdings Ltd in Nairobi, Kenya.[Photo/Xinhua]

Making forays into premium segments dominates the headlines of most smartphone-related stories. But that is by no means the sole theme. Chinese smartphone vendors are also intensifying their efforts to develop super cheap handsets, as part of a broader plan to expand their presence in African and Asian markets.

ZTE Corp, a major Chinese smartphone vendor and telecom equipment maker, has unveiled a model called Tempo Go that will be available unlocked for around $80 in selective regions.

The new handset is equipped with Android Go, a new version of a mobile operating system developed by Google Inc to target users with limited internet connectivity and expensive data plans that need to be carefully conserved.

Tempo Go comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor and eight gigabytes of storage, as well as a five-megapixel rear camera and a two-megapixel front camera.

The move came as Transsion Holdings Ltd, a Shenzhen-based smartphone maker few Chinese have heard of, is securing the jewel in the crown of the mobile world－the African continent, one of the most promising mobile arenas in the world.

Transsion has grabbed 40 percent of the African market, outcompeting much bigger opponents including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. Part of the secret to their success is good-performance handsets at an affordable price.

"Africa is the next big potential battleground for mobile phone vendors in the coming years. As 4G becomes available in more African counties, the demand for smartphones will grow," said Tarun Pathak, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.

According to Pathak, Africa, with feature phones included, is now a bigger mobile phone market than the United States, and it will surpass Europe in the next few years, as local telecoms improve their infrastructure.

The GSM Association－an organization of global mobile operators－also predicts the spectacular growth in mobile demand should give rise to 730 million individual African subscribers by 2020.

TCL Communication, the smartphone subsidiary of Chinese home appliances company TCL Corp, also unveiled a cheap model priced at around $120.

The phone is powered by a MediaTek quad-core processor, with an eight-megapixel rear camera and a five-megapixel front camera. A dual-SIM variant will be available for $135.

Xiang Ligang, a smartphone expert and the chief executive of telecom industry website Cctime.com, said the key is figuring out how to ensure that such low-price devices can deliver a relatively good smartphone performance to meet consumers' basic needs, such as streaming videos.

To achieve that, these super cheap models have come with apps that can help users manage their storage and data use.

For instance, there is an app called File Go that gives suggestions on files to remove and offload to the cloud.