Vietnam’s crowded smartphone market has just become even more cut-throat with the arrival of Huawei Group’s Honor, which debuted last week. The brand also announced strategic collaborations with Vietnamese partners.
The new phone series, which are named Honor 9 Lite and Honor 7X are priced between VND5 million and VND7 million ($219 and $306) and mark Honor’s first venture into the booming Vietnamese market. The Huawei-owned smartphone brand did not hide its ambition to become Vietnam’s top 3 smartphone brand in 2020, following Apple and Samsung.
The brand calls itself a “young, fun and innovative partner of young Vietnamese consumers,” targeting the price-conscious and trendy millennials in the ASEAN’s fast-growing economy.
Following the trend, Honor makes sure to emphasise the prowess of its smartphone cameras: competitive dual-lens 13MP + 2MP cameras on both the front and back of the phone.
“Vietnam is one of our key target markets in Southeast Asia, a strategic ground for Honor to continue offering the best state-of-the-art products and innovations,” said Akin Li, president of Honor in Southeast Asia.
Honor reveals the list of its strategic partners from across the globe
To boost its growth in Vietnam, Honor has announced strategic a partnership with Vietnam’s top gaming firm VNG, the distributor of the popular battle royale game Rules of Survival. Other partners include Singapore’s IGG, distributor of real-time strategy game Lords Mobile and the action-packed game inspired by manga series Honkai Impact 3, as well as Bigo Live, an app for live-streaming services.
Honor phones are also available for sale on top e-commerce websites such as Lazada, Shopee or Tiki, with flash sales to attract the first customers.
Customers try out the new Honor phones
Upon entering Vietnam, Honor and Huawei will have to compete with fellow Chinese rivals such as Oppo, Xiaomi or Vivo. While Oppo goes down the celebrity endorsement route, Xiaomi chose to partner with Digiworld, a domestic distributor, to conquer the Vietnamese market.
According to market research firm GfK, 13.6 million smartphones were sold in Vietnam in the first 11 months of 2017, an increase of 3.1 per cent compared with the same period of 2016. The top selling brands are Apple’s iPhone, Samsung’s Galaxy series, and Oppo.
Source: VIR