Tecno Mobile is a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer based in Shenzhen.^[1] It was established in 2006. It is a subsidiary of Transsion Holdings.

Tecno has focused its business on the African and the South Asian markets.

However, following market research conducted in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, the company found that Africa was the most lucrative among all of its market regions.^[3] As a result of this, in 2008, the company stopped doing business in Asia to exclusively focus on Africa.

Later in 2016, Tecno entered Middle East mobiles phones market after acquiring a good market in Africa,^[4] and then in Southeast Asia in 2017.^[5][6]

History

In 2006, Tecno Mobile was founded as Tecno Telecom Limited, but later changed its name to Transsion Holdings with Tecno Mobile serving as one of its subsidiaries. In 2007 Tecno created a second brand, iTel that sold in Africa and in May 2017 was recognized as the “most student friendly brand”.^[7] Early 2008, Tecno shifted its market target entirely to Africa following a market research. In 2010, it ascended into the top three mobile phone brands in Africa.^[8] In 2012, the firm released the first “Made in Ethiopia” smartphone.^[9] Tecno announced in 2016 their first mobile phone to run on Marshmallow. In 2016, Tecno Mobile launched “The Best Camera Smartphone In Africa”.^[10] In the same year, the firm launched the Tecno Phantom 6 and Tecno Phantom 6 Plus with a Biometric authentications security followed by the Phantom 8 that was unveiled at an event in Dubai^[11][12] In 2017, it launched its first Dual front led flash device, the phone is dubbed Tecno Camon CX.^[13]

Tecno phones are mostly used in Nigeria, ranking as one of the cheapest in Nigeria.

In August 2017, Tecno Mobile launched the Spark series with two devices Tecno Spark K7 and the Tecno Spark K9.^[14][15]

The firm made inroads in India following its earlier success in Africa. In April 2016, its phones officially hit the shelves in India. The firm has identified other emerging markets, besides Africa, where the population is large and purchasing power low. It entered the Bangladesh and Nepal markets in 2017 and has started trial sales in Pakistan.^[16] It is still trying to penetrate the Pakistani Market and has started its sales online through various E-commerce channels including its own website.

In January 2018, the firm launched another smartphone on the Camon series dubbed Tecno Camon CM^[17] in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and India which became the first device from Tecno Mobile to feature the 18:9 aspect ratio. Tecno has also launches its low-priced Camon i4 in Pakistan in April 2019.^[18]

On 5 April 2018, the firm launched the Camon X and Camon X Pro in Nigeria^[19], the company’s first phones to feature Android 8.1 the latest Android Operating System (as of April 2018)^[20]

Tecno Phantom 9 was launched in Africa in July 2019. For the first time it is going to feature an AMOLED Display, an under-the-display fingerprint scanner, and new design.^[21]

On 16 August 2019, the firm debuted its Spark Go in Pakistan on Daraz.pk. It is a mid-range phone ^[22][23][24]

During the COVID-19 pandemic as public gatherings have been abolished in certain industries, the firm is set to launch the Camon 16,^[25] a successor to the Camon 15 through an online event hosted on YouTube.

In December 2020, Tecno Mobile has officially launched its new smartphone Tecno Pova in the Indian market with a 6000mAh powerful battery, along with a quad rear camera setup.^[26]