The number of smartphones Allview sold in Romania fell by one third in January-October, compared with the year-ago period, telecom sources told ZF.
Allview’s market share hit its lowest in years in October 2018, but the company preserved its position among smartphone vendors behind Samsung, Huawei, Apple and Nokia by number of units delivered, the sources added.
Allview, which used to be the second leading actor on the local smartphone market by number of units shipped, dropped below Nokia, which has a 2% higher market share.
Visual Fan posted 50% decline in revenue year-on-year to 156.6 million lei (EUR34.3 million) in 2017. In 2016, it had posted RON306 million revenue, according to Finance Ministry data.
Net profit shrank 72% to RON9.7 million in 2017, which means the net profit margin stood at 6% of the revenue. Total debt stood at RON37.3 million at the end of 2017, 64% lower than in 2016. Average number of employees rose by 6 to 116 in 2017.
The abrupt decline in revenue was mainly due to the decision of the company to exit the cheap smartphone segment, its officials said.
“It was our decision to stop making entry level smartphones, with displays of less than 5”, which did not give customers the best user experience. We dropped the segment fully aware that the decision will have an immediate effect, a decline in sales via mobile phone operators. I think we stand to gain on long term, though,” Lucian Peticila, owner and CEO of Visual Fan has previously told ZF.
To offset the negative impact of the decline on the smartphone market, Allview announced entry on the smart TV market and also launched new smartwatch models.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)