South Korean consumer electronics brand LG is set to take on rivals such as Samsung and Xiaomi in the budget segment in the Indian market with its upcoming online-exclusive W series smartphone lineup. According to new reports, it appears Chinese smartphone maker Vivo is planning something similar to challenge Xiaomi in India. The company will reportedly soon launch a new Z series line targeted at the online segment, while a new S series line of smartphones will cater to the offline segment.
Vivo to Challenge Xiaomi in the Online Segment With New Z Series Phones
The first official teaser for the upcoming Z series was posted by Vivo India on Twitter earlier today, which suggests a formal announcement will possibly be made before the end of this month. Reports suggest the Vivo Z series smartphones will be positioned in the INR 10,000 to 30,000 price range in India. Vivo is aiming to target millennials with the new smartphone series, who prefer purchasing smartphones from e-commerce platforms instead of offline retail stores.
It’s the Z. It’s gone missing. Can you find it? pic.twitter.com/sVjKJu3m9O
— Vivo India (@Vivo_India) June 7, 2019
The online segment in India is currently dominated by Xiaomi. However, companies such as Realme and Samsung have also increased their share in the online segment in the recent past. Vivo has only launched one Z series smartphone in the country so far, the Vivo Z10. The Z10 made its debut in the country in July last year as a rebranded version of the V7+. Vivo’s latest Z series smartphone in China was launched last month, dubbed Z5x. The smartphone features a punch-hole display measuring 6.53-inches with Full HD+ resolution and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 octa-core processor and comes with up to 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. Its other highlights include a 16MP + 8MP + 2MP triple-camera setup, 16MP selfie camera, and a massive 5000mAh battery with 18W charging.
In the January-March quarter this year, IDC data suggests Vivo was the third largest smartphone vendor in India with a 13% market share. Xiaomi was the market leader with a 30.6% share, while Samsung trailed Xiaomi with a 22.3% share of the market.
Vivo to Increase Focus on Offline Segment With New S Series Smartphones
Vivo has so far focused more on the offline retail channels, which is the main reason behind its high popularity in the country. To further boost its market share in the offline segment, Vivo plans to launch a new S series smartphone lineup that will be focused on “design and style”. Since the Vivo S1 and S1 Pro smartphones launched in China a few weeks back were simply rebranded versions of the V15 and V15 Pro (review) models sold in India, we can expect the S series smartphones for the Indian market to be very different than the ones on sale in China.
