Lenovo today announced its plans to further expand its market share in the Indian smart wearables space by manufacturing them locally. As a result of this step, the Chinese brand expects its share to soar by three times to touch 20 percent by the end of 2018. The company currently holds close to 7 percent of the smart wearable market after about a year of its debut in the product segment. Sebastian Peng, head of accessories at Lenovo Mobile Business Group, expects the wearables market to grow 30-40 percent this year, and local manufacturing will help Lenovo in seizing this immense growth opportunity. As of now, all the fitness bands and smartwatches that Lenovo sells in India are imported from China and manufacturing them in the country itself will help keep the price low.
Peng has confirmed to be in talks with Indian companies to shift Lenovo’s manufacturing base to India with an intention to make the South Asian country an export hub for smart wearables. The China-based company is positioning its smart wearables as a key category under its portfolio available in India and has partnered with the country’s largest online retailer Flipkart to market its products. According to the report, Lenovo will expand the product availability to other major sales platforms, including Amazon, and even open physical stores across major Indian cities. The wearables segment in India was reportedly valued at $157 million in 2017 with majority of sales coming from Chinese players including Xiaomi and Huawei offering low-cost solutions, while Fitbit also retails its entire range of smart devices in India, but they generally cater to the premium segment.
The company today announced a pair of smart fitness bands – HX03 Cardio and HX03F Spectra – in the Indian market at a price of Rs. 1,999 ($30) and Rs. 2,299 ($34) respectively. Both of them include an optical heart rate monitor and are water resistant with IP68 rating. The latter smart band comes with a couple of more features over the former and includes a color display, hence its slightly increased price. Both of them will be available exclusively via Flipkart starting May 3. Lenovo will also be launching its Body Fat Scale HS11 next month in India at a price of Rs. 1,999.