China's Zopo enters India, rolls out 4G smartphone for Rs 12,999

New Delhi: Marking its foray into the booming Indian smartphone market, Chinese handset maker Zopo on August 26 said it aims to sell a million devices in the next one year. The company, which has a presence in 135 countries, launched its flagship 4G LTE device 'Speed 7' priced at Rs 12,999 in India in partnership with eCommerce player Snapdeal.

"India is a market with a huge potential. It is the fastest growing smartphone market globally and after success in Europe and other Asian countries, it was a logical step to come here," Zopo Mobile General Manager Kevin Xu told PTI. He added that the company is aiming to sell about one lakh units a month and over one million devices over the next 12 months.

"We see a lot of potential in the Indian market. While Spain is our largest market right now, in the next 1-2 years, we expect India to account for over 50 per cent of our sales," he said. The company sells about 500,000 units a month globally. Smartphone shipment in India grew 44 per cent to 26.5 million units in the April-June quarter, according to research firm IDC.

Also, the market is expected to continue to grow in double-digits over the next few years, overtaking the US as the second largest smartphone in the world, as people switch to smartphones and gradually upgrade to 4G-enabled phones.

Samsung maintained its leadership in the Indian smartphone market with 23 per cent share, followed by Micromax (17 per cent), Intex (11 per cent), Lava (7 per cent) and Lenovo (6 per cent). Xu said the company will focus on mid and premium range smartphones in India.

"In two months, we will launch our second device, priced between Rs 13,000-15,000... We may also look at launching a smartwatch in India," he added. Zopo has formed a marketing, distribution and service centre alliance with City-based Adcom. Adcom sells feature phones in India under the same brand name.

"We already have a manufacturing facility for feature phones. After we reach a certain sales volume with Zopo, we will start manufacturing Zopo smartphones in India too... The timeline we see is by next year," Adcom founder and Chairman Sanjeev Bhatia said. He added that Zopo will be available for service through 200 service centres.

'Speed 7' features Android 5.1 operating system, 3GB of RAM, 5-inch frameless screen, 13.2 MP rear and 5MP front camera and 2,500mAh battery.