Topwise is a Chinese smartphone manufacturer that has been making phones for Indian brands like Micromax has now made an official announcement on the launch of their own brand Comio in the Indian market.
The company may follow it up with more models. Topwise has entered into third-party manufacturing contract in India to assemble their phones and they have indicated that they will keep moving up the value chain.
In the next stage, they will be assembling printed circuit boards and so on. The company has also disclosed an initial investment of Rs 500 crore which will also be deployed in local R&D and marketing efforts.
Topwise’s intention, much in line with most other Chinese brands, is to target the budget segment smartphones. Their phones may be priced between Rs 6, 000 and Rs 12, 000. The details of the first phone Comio have not been reveled yet and hopefully the information will be out before August when the phone is likely to be made available in the market.
Though the Indian market is big enough to accommodate many players, the entry of such brands like Topwise immediately hurts the prospects of the Indian brands like Micromax and Lava.
The fact that these were the companies originally making the devices for the Indian brands is an additional marketing tool and their deep pockets help in carrying out aggressive marketing activities.
The technological advantage that the Chinese companies possess cannot be underestimated either.
Incidentally, Topwise is the latest in the line of smartphone brands to have made their entry in India; iVOOMi, Nubia and Coolpad are the others who have already started selling their products here. All these are in the category of original device makers (ODMs).
It is possible they may be finding it difficult the pierce their domestic market in competition with big names like Xiaomi, Oppo and Huawei. The Indian government is also encouraging local manufacturing under the Make in India program.
With the above-mentioned brands already growing their market share, the coming days could see the going tough for the domestic smartphone brands.