TCL Communication's handset shipments up 6% to 4.3m

Smartphones accounted for 18% of the shipments.

According to Maybank Kim Eng, total handset shipments rose 6% YoY to 4.3m in October, supported by a sales recovery in overseas markets.

Here's more from Maybank Kim Eng:

Overseas and China handset shipments rose 6% and 7% YoY respectively in October, to 4.0m and 0.3m. The overall shipment result is largely inline with our expectations.

Smartphone shipments accounted for 18% of total handset shipments in October (September: 19%), which was still uninspiring. TCL Com introduced the first Windows smartphone, TCL S606 (4” IPS screen, 1.0GHz processor and 5 megapixel camera with LED flash) in China, with a retail price of CNY1,199.

We expect TCL Com will continue to roll out more Windows smartphones, as well as Android and Firefox OS smartphones, to capture the rising smartphone penetration trend.

Therefore, we anticipate the share of smartphones in its shipments will rise. However, intensifying competition will be the biggest challenge to them in terms of product pricing and profitability.