Huawei to increase brand spends for shot of third spot in Indian smartphone market

In a bid to gain 10% market share by 2017, Chinese telecom firm Huawei on Wednesday said that it will match brand building expenditure of leading mobile handset makers across all platforms in India.

"We will start TV advertisements from today. GRP will reflect our spent on branding. Soon, we will issue full page advertisements in leading newspapers across 100 top cities. Our outdoor teasers have already started. We are now running 360 degree branding campaign," P Sanjeev, India Business Head for Huawei & Honor Consumer Business said.

He was speaking on the sidelines of launching three 4G smartphones -- Honor 8, Honor 8 Smart and its first Made-in-India smartphone Honor Holly 3 here.

The company has roped in badminton player Saina Nehwal as its brand ambassador.

As per IDC data for April-June 2016, Samsung topped India mobile market with 25.1% market share followed by Micromax 12.9% share, Lenovo Group (including Motorola) 7.7% market share.

Huawei is third largest mobile device seller globally after Apple and Samsung.

"We are looking for third spot in India and 10% market share by 2017. Our manufacturing in India will help us in accelerating supplies to market. Now, we are ready to compete on all fronts," Sanjeev said.

He said that Huawei is working to provide phones at all price points.

The Honor 8 smartphone priced at Rs 29,999 a piece is more about smart camera function.

The 4G smartphone comes with 12 megapixel dual-lens camera comprising a RGB and a monochrome lens at the back and 8 MP in the front. It has number of post-editing feature like image enhancement, focus change etc along with camera adjustment features like light aperture and shutter speed.

It has Huawei's Kirin 950 octa-core processor, 4GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, 3100 mAH battery and support 128 GB external storage.

The company is offering 2 years warranty on Honor 8.

"Honor 8 will be available both online and offline. In offline, we have increased our reach from 1,500 retail counters to 10,000 now across more than 340 districts with 390 distributors on board in just two months. We are looking to sell out products across 50,000 retail counters by year end," Sanjeev said.

While Honor 8 is now starting selling, the company has not announced sale date for Honor 8 Smart and Honor Holly 3.

Honor 8 Smart comes with 5.2-inch screen, 13 MP rear camera, 8 MP front camera, 2GB Ram, 16 GB internal memory and external support of up to 128 GB, 3000 mAH battery and is priced at Rs 19,999.

The 5.5 inch screen size phone Holly 3, priced at Rs 9,999, has 13 MP rear camera, 8 MP front camera, 3100 mAH battery and allows manual control of camera like shutter speed, exposure setting, focus mode and white balance.