By Marianne Grace Sarmiento
LENOVO Corp. rolled out gadgets last week as International Data Corp. noted higher shipments in the third quarter led by Samsung.
According to Dino Romano, Lenovo country manager for its smartphones business in the Philippines, the devices under its Vibe series are positioned to “selfie” shooters.
“In this day and age, smartphone users are more inclined to taking selfies. It has become one of the most popular type of photos and large amount of selfies are taken and shared on social media every day,” Romano said. “With the advancements in technology, consumers demand more from smartphones. They want their selfies to be unique so they can stand out in social media.”
“Lenovo continued to fight its way to the top of the smartphone market with help from its acquired assets in Motorola,” according to IDC. “In the third quarter, combined shipments of Lenovo and Motorola-branded smartphones reached 18.8 million, which was up 11.1 percent from a year ago.” According to IDC, Lenovo-branded smartphones have predominantly been a China play, although recently growth has taken off in Middle East and Africa, as well as Central and Eastern Europe.
The company stood out as the vendor with the fourth-largest shipment in the third quarter, which according to IDC was up 6.8 percent from the 332.6 million units in the fourth quarter of last year.
“The vendor landscape and product offerings are really unique at the moment as many markets are seeing consumers become more aware of alternative buying options when it comes to paying for their smartphone,” IDC quoted its program director Ryan Reith as saying in a statement.
The three gadgets that Lenovo launched in the Philippines are Vibe P1 (priced at P14,999 or $317.63), P1m (P7,999 or 169.40) and Vibe S1 (P15,999 or $338.81).
Image credits: Marianne Grace Sarmiento, Lenovo (Philippines) Ltd.