Well, following the launch of the latest Huawei Ascend P7 in South Africa and -owing to the frenzy the product has caused-one is optimistic to attest that it could be true.
Despite Chinese brands being labeled all sorts of names and unpopular, the market has been receptive and on the economical development, they continue to play a major role in the country.
Ok, back to the Ascend P7 that follows hot on the heels of the preceding P6.
In 2013, big winners from the sales of smartphones featured Samsung and Huawei. The South Korean giant has consolidated its market share at 31%, selling nearly 300 million units in 2013, while Huawei has seen a significant uptick in market share at 4.8%, putting it in third place overall.
According to Yudi Rambaran, director of product marketing at Huawei SA, this is the beginning of great strides to be made by our company in South Africa.
The Ascend P7 is 5-inch high definition display, 8MP front-facing and 13MP rear-facing cameras are contained in a body which, at 6.5mm, makes it the thinnest 4G/LTE smartphone on the market.
It is available in black and white models.
The P7 has a 12.7cm display protected by Gorilla Glass and is powered by a HiSilicon Kirin 910T 1.8GHz quad core processor mated to 2GB of RAM.
Camera has improved and the device features a 13 megapixel main camera and an 8 megapixel front facing camera.
This should see dramatic improvements for the photographic quality of “selfies” or self portraits which have become popular among smartphone owners, according to Rambaran, who joined the company from Korean rival competitor Samsung.
The main camera is also rated with an aperture of only f/2.0 which should deliver better low-light images, especially as the phone is equipped with Sony’s 4th generation BSI sensor.
Like some of its rivals from Samsung, LG and HTC, the P7 is also capable of panoramic photography as well as short video and audio clips to accompany pictures.
“This is one of the features that sell our brand,” continues Rambaran, as he exclusively told Sowetolife Mag Online, during interview.
“The main strategic intention of the phone is targeting the premium segment of the market,” he says.
“While it is at a fairly attractive, it does compete effectively with premium smartphones from other brands.”
The Huawei P7 is powered by Google’s Android 4.4.2 (Kit Kat) operating system and weighs in at 124g.
According to Rambaran, they’re focusing on three areas identified as key: the carmera experience, the connectivity experience and the overall design.
Although he was non-committal on how much units are they likely to sell, he assured they will make other competitors to run for their money.
“We’re planning huge marketing campaigns on branding the company to the South Africans market and the Ascend P7 is only the beginning,” stressed out Rambaran, unrepentantly.
Oh yes, it also comes with a mirror feature. Believe it or not!
The device is available from Vodacom on a Smart S plan for R379 per month and has a recommended retail price of R6 699.
COMPETITION TIME:
Huawei SA & Sowetolife Mag Online is giving away ONE Ascend P7 to a lucky reader worth R6699.
To stand the chance to win read the review story and answer the following questions:
* Huawei Ascend P7 is powered by?
* Name three features that sells the Ascend P7
* In what colours is it available?
Forward answers to info@sowetolifemag.co.za or sydney@sowetolifemag.co.za, before or on August 8, 2014.
T&Cs do apply.
Good Luck!
