Even though some feel that the smartphone market in Malaysia is already quite saturated, it doesn’t stop new companies from attempting to lure Malaysian consumers to their products every once in a while. The latest such company to do so is a French brand called Wiko who will be officially making its debut in Malaysia next week.
While the company might be formed and based in Marseille, France, its smartphones are manufactured in China through partnership with Tinno Mobile which might have acquired 95 percent of Wiko’s shares according to some reports. Nevertheless, Wiko has a huge footprint in its home market as France’s third largest handset vendor.
Even though the official launch of Wiko Malaysia will only take place next week, it seems like three of its smartphones are already available in our market through selected retailers judging from Wiko Malaysia’s Facebook page. Leading the initial batch of Wiko smartphones in Malaysia is the Highway Pure Swarovski which comes with a price tag of RM 999.
As suggested by its name, this particular model features 16 Swarovski Zirconia stones that are located on its volume rockers and power/lock button. In addition to that, the 4.8-inch HD (1280 x 720) smartphone with AMOLED display also features 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 MSM8916 quad-core processor alongside 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support microSD card.
Despite having an extremely thin physique at only 5.1mm, the 98 grams phone still comes with a 3.5mm audio jack. With the support for LTE Cat 4, Highway Pure Swarovski also features 8-megapixels rear camera, 5-megapixels front camera, and 2,000 mAh battery.
The next model in Wiko Malaysia’s initial line-up is the Fever which comes with a unique glow-in-the-dark outline built into its body. Other than that, the smartphone also features a 5.2-inch full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS display, 1.3GHz Mediatek MT6753 octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM, 16GB 32GB internal storage, and support for microSD card with storage of up to 64GB.
Wiko Fever is also equipped with 13-megapixels rear camera and 5-megapixels front camera with both of them are accompanied by a flash. Priced at RM 799, a 2,900 mAh battery provides the LTE Cat 4 smartphone with up to 216 hours of standby time or 16.2 hours of 3G talk time.
Last but not least, Wiko Malaysia also has an affordable entry-level smartphone in its initial line-up that is called Lenny 2. Priced at only RM 299, this particular model features 5-inch FWVGA (854 x 480) IPS display and is powered by a 1.3GHz Mediatek MT6580M quad-core processor. The amount of RAM and internal storage that the Lenny 2 has are rather modest though at only 768 MB 1GB and 4GB 8GB respectively.
Supporting HSPA+ download speed of up to 21Mbps, the Lenny 2 is also equipped with 5-megapixels rear camera and 2-megapixels front camera. In terms of battery life, Lenny 2’s 1,800 mAh battery provides it with up to 240 hours of standby time and 11.7 hours of 3G talk time.
Judging from these models, it seems like Wiko Malaysia will be competing in the highly competitive entry-level and mid-range segment of the market. Meanwhile, we don’t think that Wiko would be satisfied with just three models in our market since it still has 24 other smartphones in its current catalogue. So, expect to hear more from the French company very soon.
(Source: Wiko Mobile Malaysia)
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