Huawei to start smartphone manufacturing in India, at Chennai plant

 According to a report by the Financial Chronicle, Huawei is planning to start production of smartphones for the Indian market in its Chennai plant, helping it expand its presence in the country to over 200 cities and 20,000 outlets, in three years. Huawei right now has a presence in over 35 Indian cities , with 2,500 outlets across the country.

Currently, Huawei’s Chennai plant makes networking equipment, such as the recently introduced E355 data card with Wi-Fi hotspot support. The company is reportedly doing quality testing and strengthening logistics channels before it embarks on smartphone production.

Speaking to the Financial Chronicle, Victor Shan, President of Huawei India’s device business department, said: "Low-level feature phones are preferred in rural areas while smartphones are preferred in tier I and tier II cities." Tier I cities reportedly account for 60 percent of its smartphone sales.

According to Shan, the Indian market has a large demand “smartphone look-alikes”, which are priced at less than Rs. 10,000, yet offer form factors and features of smartphones. They make up roughly 80% of Huawei’s mobile phone sales in the country.

Shan also said the company will be launching an LTE-capable tablet by the end of 2012, though they have not revealed a price range for it