After Xiaomi and Gionee, it's now Alibaba-backed Chinese handset maker Meizu that will foray into the burgeoning Indian smartphone market later this month
Meizu M1 Note
New Delhi: After Xiaomi and Gionee, it's now Alibaba-backed Chinese handset maker Meizu that will foray into the burgeoning Indian smartphone market later this month.
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According to a tweet by Meizu India, the company will launch its first device on May 18.
"Are you OK? 5.18 see! see!" J. Wong," read the tweet.
Wong is the founder and chief executive officer of Meizu.
Meizu is likely to bring in its 'M1 Note' that sports a 5.5-inch display, 2GB RAM and runs on Android KitKat with its proprietary Flyme 4 skin.
The phone has a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front-facing camera along with 3,140 mAh battery.
The smartphone market in India has been growing at a phenomenal pace with shipments touching 22.25 million units in October-December 2014 and 80.5 million units during the full year.
While the market is dominated by Korean handset maker Samsung and domestic players like Micromax, Intex and Lava, Xiaomi has managed to grab 4 per cent share within a year of entering the India market.
In the past few months, many other Chinese brands like Gionee and Oppo have unveiled their products, while firms like Phicomm and Coolpad have lined up devices to be launched in the coming months.
Established in 2003 and headquartered in Zhuhai, China, Meizu expanded into the smartphone market in 2008. It has over 1,000 employees and has a presence in Hong Kong, Israel, Russia and Ukraine.
In February this year, eCommerce giant Alibaba Group Holding picked up stake in Meizu for about USD 590 million. There are reports that Alibaba is in discussions to buy stake in homegrown handset maker, Micromax.
Interestingly, billionaire industrialist Ratan Tata had picked up stake in its rival, Xiaomi last month.