Various smartphone manufacturers have adopted to dual-brand strategy in order to target different markets across the globe. Huawei has introduced Honor as a sub-brand focusing on the budget smartphone market. Similarly, Xiaomi has made Redmi as its spinoff sub-brand which the company claims would be working on the budget smartphones in order to cater to low-end device markets. Xiaomi has also introduced Poco as a sub-brand that the company utilizes for releasing budget flagship smartphones. Last year Oppo launched Realme as its sub-brand which has the same marketing strategy as the other sub-brands, which is to focus on the budget smartphone market.
Now, Vivo has introduced its own sub-brand under the moniker iQOO. The confirmation for the existence of a new sub-brand from Vivo came from the Chinese social media platform Weibo.
Vivo reposted a Weibo post from the newly inbuilt “iQOO mobile phone” account on the Chinese microblogging site. The post included a poster which suggests that the new brand will feature futuristic and technologically advanced devices.
The certification information on Weibo shows that iQOO belongs to the Vivo Mobile Communications Co. Ltd. According to Chinese media, iQOO will function as an independent brand. The brand was introduced only a few hours ago and has already amassed over 15,000 fans on Weibo.
Vivo has been selling its smartphones in China for a price range of ₹10,000-₹40,000. In the case of iQOO, it is speculated that the company will be launching smartphones with a price range above ₹50,000. The new sub-brand also has a registered iQOO.com domain. Nevertheless, the website does not contain any information about the devices from iQOO but it does contain information about the Vivo brand.
Now that the sub-brand is officially launched, new smartphones under the iQOO brand can be expected soon.
Vivo has also released a new smartphone in China under the name Vivo Apex 2019. The specialty of the phone is that it does not feature any physical buttons or ports. The screen of the phone doubles as a speaker and also is equipped with an in-display fingerprint scanner. Given it is a concept phone, Vivo has not provided any pricing information and availability about the device. There is a possibility that it may debut in the market as a new NEX series smartphone later this year.
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