 "POCO X3")
POCO, which was spun off from Xioami as a separate entity last year, is focussed on bringing a stronger portfolio of smartphones and related products this year to strengthen its position in the Indian market.
POCO that ranked third after Xiaomi and Samsung in terms of units sold online in November (data from Counterpoint) will also continue with its strategy of introducing lesser number but feature-rich devices in the market.
"We saw significant growth in 2020 despite the challenges on account of the pandemic and that has been extremely encouraging. We ranked third among the online smartphone brands in November despite having less number of devices compared to competitors," POCO India Country Director Anuj Sharma said.
The company will continue with that strategy, even as it bolsters its portfolio with newer devices this year, he added.
Sharma, however, did not comment on sales numbers.
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"We have maintained that our focus is tech enthusiasts. Being a tech enthusiast doesn't mean they have to buy devices priced above Rs 20,000... We want to get a stronger portfolio (in 2021) than 2020...we see significant growth in demand in 2021 over the last year," he said.
The company is also planning to scale up manufacturing - which is done locally - to address the growth in sales, he noted.
Sharma said two out of the top three devices sold online in November were POCO devices with POCO M2 and POCO C3 recording maximum demand, ahead of the brands like Realme and OnePlus.
Shilpi Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint, said POCO - after becoming an independent brand at the beginning of last year - is gaining momentum in the Indian smartphone market.
"Its smartphones like POCO C3 and POCO M2 were the main drivers of this growth. Features like a large display, 5000 mAh battery and gaming processor at affordable price points made both models lucrative for consumers. In Q3 2020, POCO captured 4th position in online segment shipments, post which it rose to the 3rd position in November 2020," she said.
On the demand scenario in 2021, Sharma said he expects the demand to continue growing this year.
"Beginning of 2020 and the final shipment for the year, the industry did not get where it was expected to be. While there was some new demand because of work and study from home, ASPs (average selling price) took a hit because of the uncertainty coming in...This year, I expect it to normalise a bit more and we should definitely see a growth," he said.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
