Chinese smartphone maker Gionee is the latest to enter the Kenyan market. The vendor whose brand consists of devices that have been popular in other parts of the world like the Elife series, is positioning herself for a share of the burgeoning smartphone market.
The first device the company is bringing to the market is the entry-level Gionee Pioneer 5W, simply known as the P5W. It costs Kshs 9,000 in retail stores and online through Kilimall.
The P5W has a 5-inch HD IPS display, 2 and 5-megapixel cameras on the front and back respectively, a MediaTek 6580 processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage (expandable via microSD up to 128GB), dual-SIM slots, USB OTG support, Android 5.1 Lollipop and a removable 2,000mAh battery.
It comes in a range of 5 colours – black, blue, yellow, white and red. There’s a limited gold-coloured model as well.
Gionee’s flagship device, the S6S, is expected in the market in the next few weeks.
Even though today marks the official start of Gionee devices’ local presence, they have been on sale through third parties for a while now.
Gionee’s key market was its home market, China where it reportedly had a market share of a little under 3% last year. However, its growth to outside markets like India seems to be paying off since the company is reported to be eyeing between 7 and 8% market share in the all-important populous Indian market this year. Globally, according to a Strategy Analytics report, the company was among the top 10 smartphone vendors in the world in Q1 2016.
