Could Wiko challenge Apple and Samsung in the smartphone game?

Yep, that’s right. There’s a huge tech giant right under our noses called Wiko that’s set to take over the smartphone market and none of us has ever heard of it.

The little-known smartphone maker is based in France. It already has a few handsets on the market, but now industry insiders believe its cheaper offerings are set fragment the smartphone market and take on the likes of Samsung and Apple in the process.

Even though many of its handsets are produced in China, Wiko is one of the top three handset vendors in France with 8% of the French market, according to the Financial Times and Kantar ComTech. The company’s popularity is now soaring in the likes of Portugal and Italy and it’s set to take on the UK market later this year.

According to Wiko’s head of international development, David Garcia, a new handset that’s set to take on the biggest players in the market is due over the next few months.

However, Dominic Sunnebo, the strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, believes it doesn’t need a new handset to wow us:

“Consumers are starting to realise the true cost of handsets, and as a result they are shopping around to find cheaper alternatives. This shift in behaviour plays directly into the hands of lesser-known brands like Huawei and Wiko, who are able to offer competitive technologies for a fraction of the price.”

Becca Caddy

One thought on “Could Wiko challenge Apple and Samsung in the smartphone game?”

  • It is a pity that many reviewers do not actually test the product on the long run. When I bought the Wiko Iggy phone, the sound with loud speakers enabled was muffled. I reported the issue online but nobody bothered to respond. 3 weeks later, the volume of the phone became incredibly low. I complained again and this time somebody responded. I was told to send the phone to Marseille at my expense (!!). I did so and after one week I got back the phone but it came back with black marks on the side of the phone and they could not be removed. The sound is still just as bad as before. Wiko said there is no issue with the phone but there is an issue, I can clearly hear the difference in volume compared to when I first bought the phone! Now the phone keeps on rebooting as there is a security issue with most Wiko phones: sending a SMS text message with only “=” (the equal symbol) makes your phone reboot and does not ask you for your PIN. If you do a google search, you will see that this issue is discussed on several French websites. Lots of fake SMS are being sent around now, making my phone reboot many times. This even happens when I am on a phone discussion, the phone would just reboot whenever I receive a fake sms, even if I do not open the message! I am clearly disappointed with Wiko and will not ever buy one of their phones.

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