₦airaland Forum

‘Steer clear of the High end market’
‘Use lower performance chips instead of high end ones and push big batteries as a selling point; who are we describing here? You know the name, the man, the enigma- Ladies and Gentleman-Transsion. The second most popular smart phone maker in the country behind Samsung and even higher placed than apple. Everybody knows this company and its sub brands; tecno, infinix and Itel. Over the years, they have grown from being just “chinko” to a household name and they look continually ever young, ask any tech people or Smartphone enthusiast and you will be told- they -Transsion- can still improve and be better before they can compete with the big boys. That is the mindset Transsion creates; we can be better, we are young and growing.
But the truth of the matter is this; Transsion is at the top of where they aspired to be, they never wanted to be the big dog or the brand with the ‘strongest phone’, what they wanted -and what they currently are- was to be the king of the midrange and budget class.
Years ago- 15 to 20 years to be precise- if you asked someone which phone maker was the best and biggest, instantly you heard the name Nokia or Sony- they offered internet downloads, freedom to install games and different kinds of applications; remember the Nokia C2 and Xpress music and of course my all time favourite, the Nokia 5300, you could do more than just browsing and calling, you could download games from waptrick, wapdam and it even had it own app store- those were the days, I remember endless hours of the Gangstar series, prince of Persia, Modern combat. At that time, tecno and Itel were the china battery phones, there were a few Tecno and Itel phones that could run downloaded games at that time, but they couldn’t for long periods of time as the phones regularly forced closed the game due to memory, if you played for too long- whenever you purchased a new Itel/tecno phone during that period, the first thing you would see after the big red carton packaging was “big battery” and of course “big screen.” These features are still here today and perhaps that is what Transsion is all about.
-Put a big screen there
- Alright, Insert that big battery
- Nah, remove that high performance chip and put a weaker, older one
- get a plastic casing
- Are you sure this body design is the current trending type?
-alright, put a stripped 50mp camera (our customers do not know that Mega pixels aren’t the only important things in a camera)
- wait! Make sure that camera has portrait mode, portrait is trending now
- Oya sign a big artiste, good... we are ready for business.
Transsion was never there to compete with the big boys at inception- Samsung, Sony and Nokia were locked horns at a particular period for CPU performance and camera- Transsion just stood, decided to join and when it hit them that what Nigerians at that time -and even now- appreciated was battery capacity, they left the battle, went home and came up with what we have now; Big batteries, weaker chips and okayish cameras- talk about genius business, acknowledging that the bane of the country’s tech growth is power generation, cutting costs and making tons of profit. Nokia and Sony ultimately fell, Transsion -who were wise enough to see their own demise and had tactically forfeited that earlier battle- stands strong today and dominates alongside Brother Sammy. Yesterday, I witnessed a new Itel phone selling for 50k before my very eyes, hehehe madness!
In my last post, someone told me Transsion were the only brand that cared about the country because of the inflation and as a result produces lower priced phone. I did not have a good response at that time, now I believe I do;
Nigeria is a country of well over 150 million people, An African tech giant and has more than 3 really big tech market; Alaba... lets not name names. Lagos on its own is a silicon valley, douglas in owerri is as well, everywhere you go, you will see stands, shops, offering one tech service after another. The point is this; no smart phone maker will look at the Nigerian market and say “nope, there aren’t enough opportunities there” you would be blind to say that. If Transsion left, more would troop in, believe that.

Ladies and gentleman- Transsion
-sparrow

Hmmm
In summary, they are cashing out on ignorant Nigerians

If the OP like let him preach from now till eternity. I will never waste my money on transsion phones.

Sorry please.

I welcome avenues in this phone section where we can talk about the various sides to what phone brands are doing in the country. While there are sentiments and strong expressions, it's still always nice to see the few people who can see things with a open mind, or at least give such a chance.

Incidentally, the main topic of discourse in the house has been, for a long time, the substandard practices of a certain Transsion company. The concerns are real and while phonelanders can get sentimental about it, I'm all for pointing it out as civilly as possible.

But I also think perspective is key here. At the risk of sounding defensive of the brand, contexts and perspectives to phone brands is a subject I'm willing to discuss at length.

Now, the OP mentioning that Nigeria is too big a market to be neglected by bigger phone brands is quite interesting. This is not a matter of "they can neglect...", They've already done so a long time ago, with very little hopes of reconsidering.

You may ask, "how?" Two main reasons: the entire African smartphone market is still a developing one. People don't buy smartphones as often as you think they do, and that's a major concern for the big players. OP sef reason am, how many people do you know change their phones every year. Every 2 years sef. Consistently. Not much.

The second thing is the economic overhead: sure, the people are there, but what's the cost of operation to cater to them? Big brands like Nokia packed up their bags and left the country at some point. E get why.

So, yes. Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc don't care to include African markets in their plans as of yet. Does that mean you can't buy their products? No. Only means you'll take extra steps to do so.

Which leaves Transsion, a company solely catering to African and Latin American countries. There's a certain argument that I see here that's funny: they say Transsion can't sell their products in China or anywhere else and that's why they "dump" them here in Naija.

Of course, Transsion can't sell their products in those places! Like, they're only to spec for African markets, that's all it is! Is it fair? Ethical? Up to international standards? Take it up with the economic forces at play!

See: companies have goals, and in a capitalist system, consumers are means to an end. That's why I respect the Xiaomi community for trying to DIY things for themselves, because the reality is, Xiaomi no really send your papa, especially at the budget-midrange level. Thank goodness it's beginning to show with their questionable decisions on their recent Redmi Note series.

You get what you get with these companies. And if you have the money, you can climb up the ladder a little. Which is why it stirs me when I see certain brand "lovers" or "admirers" absolutely sh**ting on another brand based on details like performance and value for money.

Banters and fanboyism aside, consumers are exactly the same. It's easy to say person A's phone choices are moronic and dumb now, but careful, your fave might serve you breakfast too!

OneGeek:
I welcome avenues in this phone section where we can talk about the various sides to what phone brands are doing in the country. While there are sentiments and strong expressions, it's still always nice to see the few people who can see things with a open mind, or at least give such a chance.

Incidentally, the main topic of discourse in the house has been, for a long time, the substandard practices of a certain Transsion company. The concerns are real and while phonelanders can get sentimental about it, I'm all for pointing it out as civilly as possible.

But I also think perspective is key here. At the risk of sounding defensive of the brand, contexts and perspectives to phone brands is a subject I'm willing to discuss at length.

Now, the OP mentioning that Nigeria is too big a market to be neglected by bigger phone brands is quite interesting. This is not a matter of "they can neglect...", They've already done so a long time ago, with very little hopes of reconsidering.

You may ask, "how?" Two main reasons: the entire African smartphone market is still a developing one. People don't buy smartphones as often as you think they do, and that's a major concern for the big players. OP sef reason am, how many people do you know change their phones every year. Every 2 years sef. Consistently. Not much.

The second thing is the economic overhead: sure, the people are there, but what's the cost of operation to cater to them? Big brands like Nokia packed up their bags and left the country at some point. E get why.

So, yes. Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc don't care to include African markets in their plans as of yet. Does that mean you can't buy their products? No. Only means you'll take extra steps to do so.

Which leaves Transsion, a company solely catering to African and Latin American countries. There's a certain argument that I see here that's funny: they say Transsion can't sell their products in China or anywhere else and that's why they "dump" them here in Naija.

Of course, Transsion can't sell their products in those places! Like, they're only to spec for African markets, that's all it is! Is it fair? Ethical? Up to international standards? Take it up with the economic forces at play!

See: companies have goals, and in a capitalist system, consumers are means to an end. That's why I respect the Xiaomi community for trying to DIY things for themselves, because the reality is, Xiaomi no really send your papa, especially at the budget-midrange level. Thank goodness it's beginning to show with their questionable decisions on their recent Redmi Note series.

You get what you get with these companies. And if you have the money, you can climb up the ladder a little. Which is why it stirs me when I see certain brand "lovers" or "admirers" absolutely sh**ting on another brand based on details like performance and value for money.

Banters and fanboyism aside, consumers are exactly the same. It's easy to say person A's phone choices are moronic and dumb now, but careful, your fave might serve you breakfast too!

Do you reside in Lagos? Sir
If you do, or any mega city for that matter
Please do well to visit a phone shop
Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo have already stuck their feet deep in the market.
In Lagos alone, we receive lot of orders for these brands.
Xiaomi and Oppo are the new big boys in town, for every successful sales day;
These two brands make up at least 40 percent.
They are very much interested sir in Nigeria.
Umidigi, black view, vivo, Gionee, Xiaomi, Oppo have all dug their teeths into our tech fabric and they are not leaving any time soon.
I kid you not.

Only uninformed people buy transsion phones

Illusionale:
Do you reside in Lagos? Sir
If you do, or any mega city for that matter
Please do well to visit a phone shop
Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo have already stuck their feet deep in the market.
In Lagos alone, we receive lot of orders for these brands.
Xiaomi and Oppo are the new big boys in town, for every successful sales day;
These two brands make up at least 40 percent.
They are very much interested sir in Nigeria.
Umidigi, black view, vivo, Gionee, Xiaomi, Oppo have all dug their teeths into our tech fabric and they are not leaving any time soon.
I kid you not.

Yes, I'm quite conversant with phone sales in Lagos, PH, and so on. And yes, Xiaomi and Vivo are selling their products all over. But you're still missing the point. The fact that these brands are selling their products in hundreds here, doesn't mean "they're in town", because they're not.

All these phone sales you see, are as a result of dealers importing these products to sell here. Facts. It's the same thing for Apple. Someone imports the products, then sell to people. The company itself isn't involved in any of that.

Do you want to know how this is true? Pick up your phone and try to call any Xiaomi, Oppo or Vivo customer care representative in Lagos. Chances are you can't. The best that could happen is getting a dealership that offers a third-party alternative instead. How about the nuanced aftersales services? Can you get first-party parts, repairs and accessories for your Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo phones?

Look past the sales OP, Xiaomi Vivo and Oppo aren't in Nigeria, even if Nigerians happen to buy them.

Btw, Gionee is almost moribund at this point, and it's a case that's working against your point. Phones are not finding it easy to set up shop in Nigeria