Tecno, Itel, and Infinix are all made by one company in China called Transsion, and recent market reports from Canalys (via Android Central), IDC and Omdia show that the company has quietly grown to become the world’s fifth-largest smartphone manufacturer.
The company’s smartphone brands are very popular in Uganda and Africa due to the low cost and aggressive marketing strategies they have. The Tecno maker Transsion is also popular in the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania. In Africa, it sells more phones than Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi. Its Tecno brand recently released its first foldable device.
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Canalys chart showing Transsion’s growth.Image: Canalys
The exact quarter the Tenco manufacturer entered the global top five differs depending on whose reports you trust the most. IDC and Omdia have Transsion overtaking Vivo in the second quarter of this year, while Canalys thinks it happened in the third quarter. But all three of them agree that it’s now a top-five player behind traditional heavyweights Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, and Oppo.
According to Counterpoint Research’s latest report Vivo is in the fifth largest spo instead of Tenco. But it also says Transsion was one of just a few brands to record year-on-year growth in Q3. Honor and Huawei also grew, with the latter benefitting from the release of the controversial Mate 60 Pro.
There is no doubt that the core reason for the company’s growth is its focus on emerging markets, where demand has been relatively strong this year compared to more developed markets. Counterpoint notes that the Middle East and Africa was the only region to record year-on-year smartphone growth in the third quarter of this year, and says Transsion benefitted from this recovery.
What remains to be seen is whether Tecno and its mother company transsion will be able to hold on to this position, or whether 2023 will end up being an outlier.
