China smartphone makers spin off secondary brands to go upscale

Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi are going after consumers in the high-end segment of the global smartphone market

Reading Time:3 minutes

Visitors take a close view of Xiaomi Corp’s new Mi 9 and Mi Mix 3 5G handsets at a presentation on the eve of the MWC Barcelona trade show last month. Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Huawei Technologies are each ratcheting up efforts in the premium segment of the global smartphone market with secondary brands. Photo: EPA-EFE

Li Taoin Shenzhen

Published: 5:30am, 24 Mar 2019Updated: 10:17pm, 24 Mar 2019

China’s four biggest smartphone makers are sharpening their focus on the fast-growing premium handset segment by spinning off secondary brands, as the industry braces for another year of decreased shipments around the world.

Oppo, China’s second largest smartphone vendor, is set to introduce next month its Reno brand, which will provide a range of 5G and non-5G premium handsets.

That would follow No 3 player Vivo’s launch earlier this month of its iQoo gaming smartphone brand. In January, Xiaomi announced that its low-cost Redmi line has become an independent brand several months after the Beijing-based company unveiled its Poco brand for the premium market segment.

But it was Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment supplier, which led the industry in establishing a thriving business for a secondary smartphone brand with its budget-priced Honor line in 2013.

A robot, right, passes employees working on a smartphone assembly line at Huawei Technologies’ production base in Dongguan, Guangdong province, on March 6, 2019. Photo: Bloomberg

“Huawei’s successful two-brand strategy, which covers all consumer market segments with models in a range of prices, has inspired other local smartphone brands to follow suit,” said Jia Mo, a Shanghai-based analyst at research firm Canalys. “The other players have realised that they need to expand their product lines to target more consumers.”