Lenovo aims for top smartphone spot in China
updated 12:47 am EST, Sun January 6, 2013
Lenovo chief says company will take on Samsung
Lenovo, the world's top PC manufacturer by some measures, is looking to have a big impact in the next wave of computing by unseating Samsung in the Chinese smartphone market. Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said in a recent interview that the Chinese firm will seek to leverage innovation, strong distribution channels, and effective operations to make its smartphones stand out. Lenovo is already the second-largest smartphone vendor by shipments, but has seen stiff competition from overall smartphone market leader Samsung and Apple, whose iPhone 5 has seen strong demand since its Chinese debut.
Yang's comments were reported today by Xinhua News, and Yang went on to detail Lenovo's decade-long dedication to the mobile sector. Lenovo was the first company to offer smartphones and tablets in the Chinese mainland market, launching Le-Phone in 2007.
Lenovo recently invested $790 million in a mobile manufacturing facility in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province. That facility, Yang says, will help Lenovo maintain a steady supply of handsets, with a target of 30 to 40 million smartphones produced per year.
Lenovo is also looking to expand the market for its smartphones, eying India, Russia, and Vietnam as areas for growth. The company already sells a number of units in those markets.
The Chinese smartphone market is already one of the world's largest, with shipments reaching 60 million in the third quarter of 2012, more than tripling the number of PCs shipped within the world's largest country by population.
