Who is Transsion, world’s 4th biggest smartphone maker?

Data released in February by research firm Canalys shows that Transsion shipped 106.7 million smartphones in 2024 for a 9% global market share, behind only the big three of Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi and ahead of some big names such as Oppo, Huawei and Vivo.

In Southeast Asia, in the fourth quarter of 2024 Transsion was the market leader in terms of sales in the Philippines, second largest in Indonesia and third largest in Malaysia.

In Africa, Transsion had a 40% market share in 2024. The company based in Shenzhen began operations in 2006.

Unlike most Chinese companies, Transsion does not sell smartphones in its vast home market.

Instead, the company, which owns popular sub-brands Infinix, Tecno and Itel, entered the still largely untapped African market in 2008, initially selling feature phones before expanding into smartphones since 2014.

It soon became "the smartphone king of Africa" with a market share as high as 50% in 2021. It has gone on to repeat this success in other emerging markets such as Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Canalys data shows that between 2021 and 2023 Transsion’s revenues remained steady while other brands in the top five saw their fortunes fluctuate.

In mid-2023 it put on a spurt in revenue growth to overtake Vivo as the fourth largest smartphone player globally.

Its sights on the rest of the world, Transsion has entered over 70 markets in Central and South America, the Middle East and Asia, including India, where it hopes to emulate Xiaomi’s success.

In its target emerging markets, Transsion mainly sells budget models, mostly through its sub-brands, that start at under US$200, with some items costing as little as US$50 despite having specs comparable to upmarket models from their rivals.

In Vietnam, their products are mostly priced at around VND2 million (US$79). Some retailers attribute the unimpressive sales to inadequate spending on sales, marketing or product upgrades.

Like other Chinese brands, Transsion wants to make headway upmarket.

It has positioned Tecno as its flagship brand to compete with the big players like Samsung, Google and OnePlus with models like the Phantom V Flip or Phantom V Fold, among its few models that retail for more than US$600.