Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Karbonn will launch a number of new models in SA as part of its strategy to expand its market in SA.
The company, which is based in India and a joint venture between Jaina Group and UTL Group, is launching the Mach Two as an SA flagship mid range challenger.
According to the IDC, smartphones priced under $200 are the fastest growing market segment, accounting for 75% of market share in Africa and Middle East markets.
Karbonn is hoping to take advantage of the consumer desire for lower cost smartphones and the company has seen some success in India and Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly as most of its devices are dual SIM.
"Karbonn, since its inception as a brand in 2009, has grown to sell over 300 million phones, spurring its global expansion into other markets," said Daryl Peel, director of Making Mobile which trades as Karbonn Sub-Saharan Africa.
Price war
The company's cheapest smartphone is the A5 Turbo, powered by a dual core 1GHz processor for R699, while the octa core powered Mach Two starts at R5 499 and has dual 8 megapixel cameras with Sony sensors.
Karbonn may not have it all its own way though. It faces competition from a number of local and international vendors looking to fill the market demand for smartphones.
"We endeavour to continuously introduce more feature packed devices to the market at affordable prices. Most of the big brands have moved away from the sub R2 000 market - we plan to increase our range in this space and robustly fill this large gap," Mobicel founder Ridhwan Khan told Fin24 recently.
Most of the Karbonn devices run the Android operating system and are currently being sold on takalot.com while the company negotiates with mobile network operators and retail stores.
The company, which is based in India and a joint venture between Jaina Group and UTL Group, is launching the Mach Two as an SA flagship mid range challenger.
According to the IDC, smartphones priced under $200 are the fastest growing market segment, accounting for 75% of market share in Africa and Middle East markets.
Karbonn is hoping to take advantage of the consumer desire for lower cost smartphones and the company has seen some success in India and Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly as most of its devices are dual SIM.
"Karbonn, since its inception as a brand in 2009, has grown to sell over 300 million phones, spurring its global expansion into other markets," said Daryl Peel, director of Making Mobile which trades as Karbonn Sub-Saharan Africa.
Price war
The company's cheapest smartphone is the A5 Turbo, powered by a dual core 1GHz processor for R699, while the octa core powered Mach Two starts at R5 499 and has dual 8 megapixel cameras with Sony sensors.
Karbonn may not have it all its own way though. It faces competition from a number of local and international vendors looking to fill the market demand for smartphones.
"We endeavour to continuously introduce more feature packed devices to the market at affordable prices. Most of the big brands have moved away from the sub R2 000 market - we plan to increase our range in this space and robustly fill this large gap," Mobicel founder Ridhwan Khan told Fin24 recently.
Most of the Karbonn devices run the Android operating system and are currently being sold on takalot.com while the company negotiates with mobile network operators and retail stores.
- Follow Duncan on Twitter
