Kenya attracts another giant smartphone maker

NAIROBI, KENYA:  Giant smartphone maker Gionee is all set to launch its smartphones in the Kenyan market on Monday July 4th.

The company will premier with its flagship Gionee S6S brand targeted at the high end market of professionals and businesspeople.  Gionee is the top smartphone brand in China and ranked among top 10 worldwide with 30 million handsets sold in 2015.

Gionee has a huge market share in India, where it sells 60,000 units monthly. It is also making inroads in Nigeria with about 20,000 handsets sold per month, according to the company’s figures.

The Gionee S6S, launched in India mid-June, has a unibody metal design and fingerprint sensor and is expected to battle for market share in Kenya with leading smartphone brands like Samsung and iPhone.

The metallic smartphone is backed by a 3130mAh battery, which delivers up to 39 hours of talk-time and standby time of up to 558 hours. It also has an extreme mode, which increase the standby battery time to 33hrs at 10 percent battery.

The Gionee S6S will be followed immediately by the Gionee P5W and F103 Pro targeted at young people and the middle market.

Gionee hopes to replicate its success in India, Europe and China where it’s among the leading brands.

“The smartphones market in Kenya is growing at a steady rate and Gionee is coming in with an eye on getting a bigger share of this market,” said Larry Liu, the marketing director of Kilimall, which will be the regional distributor of the brand through its website, kilimall.co.ke.

The phone boasts long battery life, making it ideal for business people who run mail and other message on their phones. “It’s always in power,” said Mr Liu, “10 percent of battery can give you hours of phone calls and so business never stops.”