Chinese smartphones wow Africans with excellent selfies

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What is the most popular smartphone brand in Africa? Well, ask some folks in Ghana, and they may probably tell you it is China’s Tecno.

So what do buyers love about the phone?

CGTN went to the busiest cellphone wholesale and retail area in Ghana's capital, Accra, trying to find out the answer.

The Tecno smartphone gathers numerous selfies as its database analyses their facial features. /CGTN Photo

“I love selfies. I take selfies with my friends, my colleagues. Almost every day.”

“It’s very very good. When you take a picture, it’s very clear, any time, day or night, it’s very clear.”

Tecno is manufactured by Transsion, a Chinese cellphone maker based in Shenzhen. Yet the brand is hardly known across China since Africa is its largest market.

Debuted in 2006, Tecno offered many Africans their first glimpse of a smartphone.

A man using a Tecno phone in Accra, Ghana. /CGTN Photo

Wang Haibin, the general manager of Transsion’s hardware center, told CGTN the secret behind the phone’s excellent selfie functions.

“We have customized selfie modes for African consumers.” Wang introduced, “We followed African customers’ preferences for beauty. For example, they have darker eyebrows, prominent noses, and they want skin that looks smooth and bright. Our phones take good pictures even under dark lights.”

In recent reports from Canalys, a market research company that shows Trassion shipped 4.9 million cell phones to Africa during the first quarter of 2018, some 38 percent of the market share in Africa, ranking it No.1 across the continent.

Easy access to post-sale service is another reason for Tecno’s popularity in Africa. /CGTN Photo

Besides, Tecno phones also offer dual sim-cards, long-lasting batteries, and convenient post-sale service. In major cities in Ghana, it only takes three days at most to fix a phone.

A software problem can be fixed at any service center instantly. For hardware issues, the phones are sent to a maintenance factory for further examination and repair.

Maxwell Techie, the only authorized dealer of Tecno in Ghana told CGTN that local people would see Tecno as a local brand more than a Chinese brand now. “It’s a household name in Ghana,” Maxwell added, “it won Ghana Information Technology & Telecom Awards 2017 (GITTA) as the most popular phone brand of the year.”

Screenshot via African Business

According to African Business, a business magazine published by London-based IC Publications, Tecno ranked No.7 on Top 100 most-admired Brands in Africa 2017/2018.