Vivo set to launch Made-in-India foldable phone; can become a big part of premium market

Vivo is all set to launch its foldable phone, X Fold3 Pro, manufactured at its factory in Greater Noida, as the Chinese smartphone brand hopes to gain a big share of the premium market here.

The company said that it is seeing an increasing pace of 'premiumization' in the smartphone market in India, and this trend will continue even as the overall market is expanding and growing.

Talking about the upcoming launch of the X Fold3 Pro, Vivo India's Corporate Strategy Head Geeta Channana said that we are at a stage where customers trust our brand and are ready to give us the opportunity to launch a device like the Fold. We are also at a stage where we are able to solve some of the existing issues in the Fold segment.

The forthcoming device's price and sales target have not been disclosed by the company. The company is primarily targeting premium urban users, existing Fold users, and even premium 'candy bar' phone users with this new offering. The device is made in India.

Chananna informed me that our own factory in Greater Noida is where the device was made. In the Indian market, the X Fold3 Pro will be the most costly product offered by the company. In the Indian market, where premium sales are reaching all-time highs, Vivo will compete with rivals like Samsung and others with its launch on June 6.

As far as the competition is concerned, we have charted our own path... All our premium devices... 'X Series' devices... are different in their own way. We always focus more on design and camera... This will remain our core strength and we are going to move ahead in this." The new device is ultra-slim (11.2mm thickness when folded and 5.2mm thickness when unfolded) and has a 5700mAh battery and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor.