The China-based smartphone brand is the latest to join the list of other smartphones brands to announce sub-brands
pic credits – WeiboWith Vivo announcing its sub-brand iQOO, it looks as if the smartphone brands are considering the increasing trend of smartphone gaming seriously. By the looks of the graphic picture that Vivo has shared on the social media platform Weibo, it is highly probable that the brand will soon launch a smartphone specially meant for gaming.
A recent report published by ResearchAndMarkets had said, “With the global rise in smartphone ownership, India has the second highest smartphone users. It has been found that smartphone users in India spend four hours per day on gaming apps.”
The brand has even announced a contest for people to pronounce the name of its new sub-brand correctly. It said the contest will not only give its winners Vivo branded earphones but also a chance to win iQOO branded smartphones.
Gaming smartphone launch?
The graphic that the brand has shared on the social media platforms loos like a screen shot of a game. It is quite possible that the brand is targeting the gaming smartphone vertical in its global markets.
It is to be noted PUBG Mobile game alone has 30 million daily active users as per its parent company. Tencent, back in December 2018, had said that the smartphone game has been downloaded more than 200 million times.
Several brands including the likes of Asus, Xiaomi and Red Magic have already introduced gaming smartphones. Korea based Samsung, last year, had also started marketing its Galaxy Note 9 as a smartphone. OnePlus OS comes with an inbuilt gaming version in new OnePlus devices.
China-based smartphone brands taking the sub-brand route
It is worth mentioning here that China-based smartphone brands including the likes of Huawei and Xiaomi have already taken the sub-brand route. Huawei operates Honor as a sub-brand while Xiaomi operates Redmi, Poco and Mi as sub-brands.
Similarly Oppo, Vivo and OnePlus operate under the umbrella of BBK. It looks as of the the new brand iQOO will directly operate under Vivo and indirectly under BBK.
