In order to be successful in the Android world, a manufacturer has to tackle the low end of the market. Android has about 80% of the market and most of that is comprised of low end Android devices. You might see quite a couple people here in the States walking around with a high end Galaxy S device but when you step into markets like India or China or even some Caribbean countries it is quiet a different story. Most of these people aren’t as financially blessed as we are and they either wouldn’t want to or simply wouldn’t be able to spend as much as we can on something as trivial as a cell phone. Even here in the States you are guaranteed to see many low end Android devices as these are the devices that are affordable. They are either free on contract or they are cheap and get the job done when using things like Facebook, texts, or voice calls.
Lenovo’s Yang Yuanqing has acknowledged this fact as well and has stated that the low end device market is their next target. Lenovo has recently enjoyed a 23% growth in profits and an 18% growth in revenue. A lot of this growth is thanks to rock solid performance in smartphone sales in markets such as Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Lenovo will also acquire Motorola later on and has overtaken HP as the world’s number one PC maker last year. With all this it is clearly evident that Lenovo has all the tools that is required to accomplish it’s new Goal which is to dominate the smartphone market by dethroning Samsung. This is quite a Lofty Goal. Samsung has been the number one smartphone manufacturer since 2011 when they ousted Apple from that position. As lofty as this goal might be it is definitely possible for Lenovo, the most popular of all the Chinese brands.
Lenovo has recently become the number one smartphone manufacturer in China, a position which it has taken from Samsung and currently sits in the number 4 spot when it comes to the worldwide market. Samsung definitely has reason to be worried and needs to come up with a new plan fast as news has recently surfaced that Samsung is having a bit of trouble. Many of Samsung’s critics blame the company’s lack of innovation as a driving factor for their recent failure. Samsung does make low end devices, probably too much actually, but the quality of the software experience on these devices have always been very poor to a lot of people, thanks in part to Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. This is the chink in Samsung’s armor and one that Lenovo is sure to exploit, after all, they did recently go through all the trouble to acquire Motorola Mobility, a company that brought us the snappy but quite modestly specd and priced Moto X. Lenovo isn’t that well known here in the West when it comes to the Smartphone market and this is where Motorola’s name will most certainly be of value to Lenovo.
Lenovo might also have another ace up their sleeve which could be that Chinese business mindset. In China, the market is definitely a crowded one, filled with many hungry companies fighting to standout and a different approach to making money is needed. Companies there are interested in making money, of course, but they don’t necessarily aim to make a boatload of cash immediately. Instead they will sell phones at or near cost and make money slowly. I’m sure you’re all familiar with that popular saying, “Slow and Steady Wins the Race”. This tactic is also evident in the way Xiaomi and One plus do business, and guess what? They’ve caught everyone’s attention. They’ve achieved what they set out to do, which is to stand out. One plus might not be selling phones like hot cakes but many of us in the tech community are watching them. That’s right, they now have mind share. What Samsung should realize is that Lenovo is a much bigger company and is certainly capable of doing something like this in a more successful manner.