Chinese tech giant Lenovo has adjusted its smartphone business strategy in Thailand by zeroing in on the Motorola brand for its handset segment, while repositioning Lenovo mobile phones for gaming alone in the 5G era.
The company also formed a marketing partnership with all three major mobile operators to boost sales.
Lenovo previously partnered only with True Move Universal Communication (TUC), the second biggest mobile operator by subscribers, under an exclusive business deal.
The company yesterday rolled out its first batch of 5G-enabled smartphones, including Moto G 5G Plus, which it said is the cheapest 5G handsets in Thailand at 9,990 baht.
Repositioning the company's smartphone business began in June this year to gain market share in the future, said Thaneth Angkasirisan, Lenovo's general manager for Indochina.
The company will focus on rolling out smartphones under the Motorola brand in the Thai market instead of the previous strategy of pushing both Lenovo and Motorola, he said.
Motorola has a stronger brand recognition among Thai customers than Lenovo, which is seen as a computer notebook brand, Mr Thaneth said.
Lenovo smartphones will be repositioned as gaming handsets in the Thai market, he said.
In some other countries, the company will still roll out 5G-enabled smartphones under both brands.
The Motorola smartphone brand will be rekindled in the Thai market, especially with 5G network infrastructure being rolled out nationwide, said Mr Thaneth.
"I believe mass adoption of 5G services for smartphones in the country will happen in 2021, when around half of handset replacements will be with 5G-enabled smartphones," he said.
By that time, there will be more 5G-compatible smartphones priced lower than 10,000 baht in the market, said Mr Thaneth.
Lenovo launched four new smartphone models yesterday. Two are 5G-compatible: the Moto G 5G Plus and Motorola razr 5G, the latter being a flagship model with a folding display at 44,990 baht.
He believes fans of Motorola's folding phones will love this flagship model.
Lenovo's mobile business group saw second-quarter revenue growth of 39% from the first quarter, which was a continuation of the recovery from the impact of the pandemic.
Growth in the company's stronghold markets of Latin America and North America solidified, while growth in Europe and Asia-Pacific was accelerated.
"The pandemic has pushed up sales growth of the notebook sector, while the smartphone sector sees flat growth," said Mr Thaneth.
The company is concentrating on re-engineering models to reach out to more customers; shifting brand positioning to target new consumer segments; and reigniting the focus on consumers and quality.