First time smartphones proportion beyond 10%, achieved 11% of overall portfolio
Successful launch of the TCL A966 and TCL A998 smartphones
HONG KONG, March 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- TCL Communication Technology Holdings Limited ("TCL Communication" or the "Company", together with its subsidiaries referred to as the "Group"; HKSE stock code: 02618) today announced the unaudited shipment figures for its handsets and other products in February 2012.
In February 2012, the Group's handsets and other products sales totaled 2,394,752 units, remaining stable as compared to last year. Sales of smartphones reached 272,548 units, the smartphone proportion grew steadily in the past few months and currently accounting for 11% of the total shipment. Meanwhile, 1,866,260 units were sold in the overseas markets and 528,492 units were sold in the PRC, representing a year-on-year increase of 506%. For the first two months of 2012, the cumulative sales volume of handsets and other products amounted to 4,398,656 units, with 3,748,286 units sold in the overseas markets, and 650,370 units sold in the China market, representing an increase of 203%.
With the satisfactory results recorded in 2011, coupled with its competitive edges in its brand reputation, R&D and market presence, the Group is confident about its future development. At a press conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February 2012, the Group unveiled its strategy for enhancing the reputation of its ALCATEL ONE TOUCH brand, which has been greeted with a positive response in the overseas markets. With its strong brand reputation and R&D capabilities, the Group will continue to optimize its product portfolio and launch more new products in 2012. Future growth is expected to be driven by smartphones -- which possess advanced features -- as well as tablets and a new range of mobile broadband products for personal and home connectivity. The growth momentum of smartphone will start from Q2 onwards while Q1 2012 will be the ramp-up period. On the other hand, the Group will continue to reinforce its leading position in the global handset market by extending its global reach with a focus on markets such as China.
In China, the Group continued to deepen its market penetration by launching affordably-priced smartphones with features tailor-made for local markets. In February, the Group launched the TCL A966, its first 3.5-inch QQ smartphone, which features a number of pre-installed Tencent cloud applications. In addition to a range of games and entertainment applications, the TCL A966 features Tencent Weibo, one of the most popular microblogging services in China, as well as "mobile QQ" and "mobile QQ space". It provides QQ users a swift and convenient mobile social networking experience, demonstrating that the Group has entered into a new era of "cloud-based social networking" for smartphones.
In addition, the Group also launched the TCL A998 smartphone, which incorporates a range of Sohu applications such as "Sogou map", "Sogou input method", "Sohu Paike", "Sohu Weibo" and "Sohu news". The TCL A998 attests to the Group's close cooperation with its strategic partners such as Sohu, Tencent, Sina and Netease. With their modern designs and advanced features tailor-made for local markets, the Group expects the TCL A966 and TCL A998 to receive positive responses from the market and thereby further propel its sales and operational growth.
Sales Volume of Handsets and Other Products (Unaudited Data)
| Units | Feb 2012 |
Feb 2011 |
YoY Change (%) |
Jan - Feb 2012 |
Jan - Feb 2011 |
YoY Change (%) |
| Total | 2,394,752 | 2,369,499 | 1% | 4,398,656 | 5,502,945 | -20% |
| Including Smartphones |
272,548 | 6,113 | 4,358% | 413,107 | 13,309 | 3,004% |
Sales volume data is also available at the Company's website: http://tclcom.tcl.com.
About TCL Communication
TCL Communication Technology Holdings Limited (stock code: 02618), together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures and markets an expanding portfolio of mobile and internet products worldwide under two key brands - ALCATEL ONE TOUCH and TCL. The Group's portfolio of products is currently sold in the China and over 120 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. TCL Communication operates its highly efficient manufacturing plants and R&D centres in various provinces of the China with headquarters in Shenzhen, China. For more information, please visit its website at http://tclcom.tcl.com.
For further enquiries, please contact Hill & Knowlton Asia Ltd.:
| Email: tclcomm@hkstrategies.com | |
| Crystal Yip | Erica Liu |
| Tel: (852) 2894 6211 / 9720 6445 | Tel: (852) 2894 6252 / 5136 8460 |
