Vivo to double India manufacturing capacity by next year

MUMBAI: Buoyed by increasing demand, Chinese handset vendor Vivo today said it is planning to double its manufacturing capacity in the country by next year.

"The current capacity is one million pieces a month and it is running at full capacity. We are looking at more space to set up lines. We will be expanding it by another one million," Vivo India Chief Marketing Officer Vivek Zhang told PTI here.

The company's current facility in Greater Noida is running at full capacity and Zhang said globally the company has a capacity of 8-9 million pieces per month.

According to research firm IDC, the smartphone market in India grew 17.5 per cent sequentially to 32.3 million units in July-September quarter of 2016, driven by higher uptake of Chinese brands.

Vivo India today launched a new smartphone V5, with a 20 mega pixel front camera and a 13 mega pixel rear camera priced at Rs 17,980.

"India is the first market to have V5. We have customised colours (crown gold and space grey) for Indian consumers. We will be launching V5 in 22 cities from tomorrow," Vivo India Chief Executive Officer Kent Cheng said.

He added that the phone will be available for pre-order from tomorrow till November 25 and will go on sale from November 26.

The company also unveiled V5 Plus, a smartphone with dual front camera, which is expected to be launched sometime next year.