With the new TECNO Camon 18 Premier being launched in the Kenyan market, it is possible that the TECNO lead on the Kenyan smartphone industry will grow when the numbers for December 2021 and January 2022 are released. By the end of November according to gs.statcounter.com, TECNO had 20.53% market share followed by Samsung at 17.59%.
It has been amazing watching TECNO progress in the Kenyan market over the years, from the time they came in as an unknown brand to how they boxed out of the way the Kenyan household names like Samsung and Nokia. It is a story that is worth talking about in more details than what I am trying to do today.
One thing that they have done very well is to listen to what the customers want and at the end they understood the Kenyan market much better. It is a price sensitive market and they have followed it with strategy that plays into that perfectly.
For a start TECNO Camon 18 Premier is now essentially their current flagship device but look at how much they are selling it. And as mentioned by Dickson Otieno on Techish, the Phantom X should ideally be the TECNO flagship series, but it was spun off as its own sub brand.
Yeah, the price, at Ksh. 39,699 for a phone which the public perceive to be as good as any flagship device around is the kind of strategy that has made TECNO to stand tall. I know there are the wired tech people who would say, it is not as good as Samsung or iPhone Flagship phones looking at the specifications especially the chipset used. That is true, but what are some of the top things Kenyans are looking for from a phone?
- Price
- Camera
- Storage space
- Beauty
- Battery Life
Price
This is the number one consideration for almost all Kenyans when looking to buy a new phone. Actually, I should have simply used the word āallā without adding the word āalmostā because the rich Kenyans who one might think have the disposable income and hence can buy expensive phones without thinking twice rarely do. If anything they are the hardest lot to convince to part with their money. TECNO, on their part understood this well and designed the phones based on what the target market audience are looking for and then pricing them accordingly. Take the Camon series that were launched in Kenya two months ago including the 18 Premier;
TECNO CAMON 18: KES 22,199
TECNO CAMON 18P: KES 27,699
TECNO CAMON 18 Premier: KES 39,699
Based on what Kenyans are looking for, the above latest TECNO phones are on point but let me continue to the other points.
Camera
After the price, I think nothing else sells the phones in Kenya more than the camera feature. And right on cue, TECNO has outdone themselves with both selfie and the rear camera for the Camon 18 Premier. Personally, I am terrible at taking photos, be it selfies or normal pictures but within the duration that I have had the phone, I tried my best thanks to the awesome cameras. Look out for my next post detailing my movement around from the lenses of Tecno Camon 18 Premier.
Back to the issue at hand, Kenyans like taking and posting all kinds and types of pictures. And a phone that allows them to look awesome and beautiful would always sell. I remember a few weeks ago, I was in a meeting reviewing the year with a number of guys we have working with on a certain project. The lady sitting next to me posed and asked me to take one or two pictures of her. The next thing I found myself being the photographer for the entire group after the others saw the photos. Unfortunately, I canāt show them here because I do not have their permission to display them publicly but It was a great experience for me. Based on the camera alone, I would recommend this phone a hundred times.Ā
Storage Space.
The problem with most phones these days especially the lower end ranges is that the system alone takes so much space. A phone with 32GB space has no storage space at all for the user due to space occupied by the system and apps. For example, I personally use a few apps and try not install ones I do not need but I found out that on the Camon 18 Premier, the system uses 16.72 GB, while the apps use 17.88 GB internal storage. That is already 34.6 GB. Anyway that is not an issue for the Camon 18 Premier. With ROM of 256GB and RAM of 8GB, the phone has enough space for any type of user.
All in all, this is a feature Kenyans look at because of the number of pictures they take, as well as use it to watch movies and series and store as many music audios as possible. Not many people have embraced cloud storage, so still needing a phone that can store their beautiful memories.
Beauty
It might be a moot point to many but many people really consider how the phone looks like at face value. I must say that I am in that category of people who care more about the functionality of a device than anything else. But I have found myself nodding to the fact that TECNO did a great job designing the phone. It is aesthetically pleasing and a gadget worth flaunting without necessarily having to clothe it in a beautiful cover.
Battery Life
And finally let me talk a little bit about the Battery life. I think it is something that people look for while buying a phone. For a long time with my recent phones, I have always had to carry my charger to work as I expect to charge my phone once or twice during the day. I have not really timed how long the TECNO Camon 18 Premier takes while under intense use but one thing for sure is that I no longer need to carry my charge to work once charge it at night. And I must mention here that I am one of those who never put my data off: In other words, I am a heavy user.Ā
