• Counterpoint Research, TECNO, MediaTek and Forbes to discuss push towards premium smartphones in Webinar to be broadcast November 22
• The shift upwards is being driven by emerging markets like SE Asia, with consumers willing to pay more for feature sets available only on premium devices just a few years ago
• Availability and integration with chipsets like the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 5G is helping OEMs like TECNO enter the premium fray with its soon to launch Phantom X2 flagship
• The camera experience underpins their new flagship and TECNO’s push towards premium

London, Jakarta, New Delhi, Mumbai, Beijing, Seoul, Boston – November 17, 2022

Counterpoint Research, TECNO, MediaTek and Forbes Magazine will discuss trends highlighting the shift towards more premium smartphone features and segments in a Webinar entitled The Push Towards Premium: Changing Smartphone Preferences and the Technologies Behind Them, to be broadcast on Tuesday, November 22 at 7pm Jakarta time (12pm London, 8pm Beijing). Register here to receive accompanying report Brand Story: The Rise of TECNO.

Over the past five years, the smartphone market has been evolving towards more premium offerings, helped by technology advancements across various components and consumer willingness to pay more for their devices – especially across emerging markets.

Two key areas have been:  1) Cameras, which now usually have three or four lenses to overcome smartphone size constraints, and 2) SoC processor speeds, which continue to edge upwards to power the AI algorithms required by the today’s complex imaging systems.

Levelling Up:  Camera Systems and SoCs

Source:  Counterpoint Research Global Smartphone Sales Tracker. 

“The usual forward momentum of technology is driving things upwards, which is why we get better cameras, longer battery life, more storage, faster phones and the like. And although smartphone average selling prices (ASP) are increasing, it’s not commensurate with the improved experiences being delivered”, notes Tarun Pathak, Counterpoint’s Research Director for smartphones. “Interestingly, consumers in emerging markets like Southeast Asia and Latin America are helping ASPs rise more quickly than the global average, with large segments of savvy users upgrading to their second or third device. In Southeast Asia, ASPs have risen on average by 15% annually for the past three years, while Latin America also saw double digit YoY growth last year.

“TECNO is moving regionally to ride this wave of growth, and central to this has been the expansion of our portfolio into more premium products and delivering to our customers some really great cameras”, says Jimmy Hsu, Associate Director of TECNO’s Image R&D Center. “The culmination of this is the Phantom X2 flagship that ships with the Dimensity 9000 5G, which addresses one of the holy grails of smartphone photography – great night-time shots.”

Before and After:  MediaTek Dimensity 9000 5G & Utra-Fast Night Scene Algorithm

Source:  Image on left taken with xxx smartphone; right image on the TECNO Phantom X2.

Imaging has become a key feature for OEM differentiation across all regions, and chipset makers like MediaTek are providing the engines needed to deliver on massive computational requirements of today’s most advanced camera systems.

MediaTek’s Managing Director for India, Anku Jain, recognizes the critical position SoC makers hold in helping smartphone players deliver. “The MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ is one of our fastest-ever 5G smartphone chips and we are working closely with the local OEMs towards enabling incredible customer experiences.”

Technology innovation and integration has always been a cornerstone of smartphone OEM strategy, helping them expand both regionally and across their respective portfolios. TECNO has been no exception, as it branches outwards into new categories like wearables, tablets and laptops, and upwards via it’s higher-end smartphone portfolio.

Forbes Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Russell Flannery sees smartphones continuing their inevitable push forward, stating that, “Looking into the future, smartphone features are likely to keep evolving and improving through better safety and security, more diverse sizes and shapes, emergence of new interfaces, and more efficient power consumption.”

This webinar has an accompanying Whitepaper entitled Brand Story: The Rise of TECNO.

All webinar registrants will be emailed a copy on November 22.   

Contacts:

Tarun Pathak
[email protected]

Media Contacts
[email protected]

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About Counterpoint Research

Counterpoint Technology Market Research is a global research firm specializing in products in the TMT (technology, media and telecom) industry. It services major technology and financial firms with a mix of monthly reports, customized projects and detailed analyses of the mobile and technology markets. Its key analysts are seasoned experts in the high-tech industry.