E-commerce giant Flipkart on Tuesday made its 'big' announcement today. Flipkart's CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and Ajay Veer Yadav, Head of smartphones took to the stage to make the announcements. The company had been hinting at a new partnership with a mobile phone company and a new device launch. Flipkart announced an exclusive partnership with Taiwanese smartphone maker, Asus.
Flipkart also talked about its future plans as a platform for selling smartphones in India. The e-tailer aims to own 40% of smartphone sales in India by 2020. Flipkart will be launching new Asus products in India. The first product from this partnership will be Zenfone Max Pro M1 which will be launched on April 23.
Asus had launched Zenfone Max Pro in August last year along with five other smartphones from the Zenfone 4 series. The company may launch a phone customised for India instead. For instance, Asus has confirmed the phone will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 636 processor.
Asus Zenfone Max Pro specifications
The predecessor Asus Zenfone Max Pro, listed on the company's website, features a 5.5-inch LCD IPS display with a 2.5D curved glass layered on top. The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 430 processor paired with Adreno 505 GPU for graphics. Asus Zenfone Max Pro comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.
For photography, the smartphone sports a dual-camera setup at the rear which is a combination of 16-megapixel and 5-megapixel sensors. Up front it houses a 16-megapixel front camera. Asus Zenfone Max Pro is fuelled by a 5,000mAh battery, and runs Android 7.0 Nougat with ZenUI on top.
Flipkart, Asus partnership
Flipkart will be the primary sales channel for ASUS ZenFones. The MOU will further provide customers with the opportunity to enjoy exclusive access to ASUS ZenFones on the ecommerce platform.
Both companies will collaborate in the co-creation of new products for the Indian market based on consumer insights.
"As a core pillar of our consumer centric strategy in India, we see tremendous opportunity in creating products and services that address India's special market needs. With Flipkart's partnership, we aim to gain more insights about Indian consumers' needs which can help us develop even more suitable products for the Indian market. Flipkart's unparalleled distribution reach and marketing strengths will help ASUS build strong awareness for our innovative high value products and reach consumers across India. We strongly believe this collaboration will provide both companies better opportunity to provide delightful propositions to Indian consumers," said ASUS CEO Jerry Shen in a release.
Here are the highlights from Flipkart's announcement.
12:51PM: Quick recap: Flipkart aims to own 40% of smartphone sales in India by 2020. The e-commerce giant also announced a long-term partnership with Asus. Under the partnership, Asus will launch a slew of products via Flipkart. The first product under the partnership is going to be Zenfone Max Pro. The smartphone will be launched in India on April 23.
12:50PM: That's all from the Flipkart event.
12:44PM: Flipkart says today's announcement was about the partnership with Asus. But there will be a new product soon. Asus in partnership with Flipkart will launch Zenfone Max Pro on April 23.
12:43PM: Asus says it is committed to Make in India programme. The company may launch an affordable smartphone.
12:33PM: A new Zenfone smartphone? The AV gives a throwback at older Zenfone phones from Asus.
12:32PM: Asus CEO Jerry Shen takes the stage.
12:31PM: 10 million phones were sold in India in 2012. According to Flipkart, 42 million phones were sold online.
12:28PM: E-tail market to grow in India. Flipkart's data:
12:27PM: CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy takes the stage. He will explain how the company will help add 100 million smartphone users in India.
12:26PM: Ajay Veer Yadav hypes partnership with Asus, which has been in the smartphone industry for quite some time. Asus sells Zenfone-series phones in India.
12:24PM: Flipkart's big plans.
12:23: Flipkart aims to have 40% of total smartphone sales in India by 2020.
12:22PM: Can we add 100 million smartphone users? Flipkart on what's next for the company.
12:21PM: Here's the trend.
12:20PM: One in four phones sold in India last year was sold on Flipkart, a first for any retailer.
12:19PM: Ajay Veer Yadav claims Flipkart was among the first ones to push the budget phones in India. He says Flipkart is providing phones across all price points.
12:18PM: Flipkart's Ajay Veer Yadav takes the stage. He stresses how mobile phones helped Flipkart grow in India.
12:17PM: The event begins with Flipkart hyping its new announcement.
12:16PM: The event is set to begin shortly.
12.14PM: Flipkart claims, "this live stream is going to unveil something BIG - a huge partnership that is all set to transform the mobile phone industry."
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