Tecno to Launch 'Spark' Budget Smartphone Sub-Brand in India

Hong Kong-based Transsion Holdings' smartphone brand Tecno Mobile is set to launch a new budget smartphone sub-brand 'Spark' in India soon, a senior company executive said here on Wednesday.

Tecno will soon have presence in three price segments - Rs. 5,000-Rs 10,000, Rs. 8,000-Rs. 12,000 and Rs. 12,000-Rs. 15,000.

"Between Rs. 12,000-Rs. 15,000, we have Phantom which is our flagship device; In Rs 8,000-Rs 12,000 segment, we would continue with our Camon series and in the Rs 5,000-Rs 8,000 segment, we would soon have a sub-brand Spark which is very successfully globally," Arijeet Talapatra, CEO, Transsion India told IANS.

The company launched a new smartphone Phantom 9 on Wednesday which will be available online on Flipkart.

"This is the first time we are going online. Tecno is an offline brand but the online segment is growing and more and more consumers are going online. The online segment contributes almost 40-42 percent of the market", Talapatra added.

On a question whether Tecno is aiming to compete against Xiaomi with Phantom 9, Talapatra replied: "I would not say that we would fight against the market share of Xiaomi but we would fight for the online smartphone market share. We will create a sweet hotspot for the company in the online space and grow from there", the executive noted.

Tecno has already invested in two manufacturing units in the country.

"Earlier we had Semi-Knocked Down (SKD) capabilities, now we have Complete Knock Down (CKD) capabilities. We have our own SMT lines. We would soon invest in R&D centres in the country", Talapatra told IANS.