Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has taken steps to cater to the specific needs of consumers in the South African market.
This is according to Charlene Munilall, Huawei consumer business group SA GM, who credits marketing and understanding of customers as reasons for the company's success in the devices business.
"When I started in May last year, our market share was about 3% and we said we'd be 10% by the end of the year. We were actually above 10% at the end of last year.
"This year, we have said we will have 15% and above of the market in the bands that we play in."
Traditionally, Huawei's consumer has been in the low to mid-range, but the company started to put a lot of effort and visibility into high-end devices, starting with the P8, says Munilall.
"With the P8, we had a huge launch event and we ensured that when we launched the product the entire market had coverage at one time, and we made sure we had the phone available in multiple colours at the start.
"Some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) launch with one colour first. We decided to go with a range of colours to give people multiple choices."
The same can be said about the P9 devices, for which Huawei followed the same formula but included a value-add, she notes.
"We managed our prices despite the fact that the exchange rate went completely wonky this year. We still managed to keep our price point at a reasonable level.
"While the market was just going haywire with the exchange rate, we managed our prices so that they were the right fit for our devices. We are conscious about affordability issues of our devices with our customers, while not sacrificing on the premiums of our device."
Munilall says despite introducing high-end devices, the company has also managed to keep its device portfolio in the low to mid-range.
"We cover every band. While the global direction is to concentrate on premium devices, our customers still start at a price range of below R1 000."
According to Munilall, the decision to include a 'light version' of its premium device range has also been beneficial.
"We think there is a market for people that want to buy premium devices, but then there are those people that like the look of premium but can't afford it.
"That has been working very well for us. Our P8 Light and P9 Light have been the best sellers in the country and worldwide."
Huawei's global ambition is to become the number one OEM and it plans to do that in a sustainable way, she adds.
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