Ill-prepared to deal with the massive competition in the sub-INR 10,000 smartphone market in India, Asus has decided to exit the segment. The Taiwanese manufacturer will now focus solely on the INR 10,000 to INR 30,000 price bracket.
“We do see that the competition in the market is actually very tough with the aggressive approach by Chinese competitors in the last few months. We see that they are very aggressive with resources they have. If we don’t focus then we lose to them…so far we are able to sustain, but then we decided to change our strategy and be more focused,” Peter Chang, Regional Director, South Asia and Country Manager India, ASUS, told ET Telecom.
Asus has no presence in the high-end smartphone market, so the company will now just be dependent on mid-range smartphones. This more-focussed approach will also decrease the size of the company’s smartphone portfolio in the country.
The company recently introduced its Zenfone 4-series in the country, but has stayed away from releasing all smartphones in the lineup. It has initially launched only two phone, both of which focus on selfies, something that has been very popular among Indian consumers.
In other Asus news, the company has preponed the Zenfone 5-series announcement and it will now be happening in March 2018. The current Zenfone 4-series was unveiled in August, 2017.
