Lenovo shoots for the stars in smartphones

Chinese personal computer giant Lenovo Group Ltd is aiming high to become a leading player in global smartphone sales, building up its branding and expanding abroad aggressively.

Lenovo, already the world's top PC maker, isn't shy about its towering ambitions as it battles for market share against rivals such as South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and United States-based Apple Inc.

In a new marketing campaign, Lenovo Group Ltd invited National Basketball Association star Kobe Bryant to Beijing this month to promote its flagship smartphone products.Wang Jing / China Daily

In a new marketing campaign, the Beijing-based company invited National Basketball Association star Kobe Bryant on stage in the capital this month to promote its flagship smartphone products.

Lenovo hopes Bryant will help attract millions of youths in China, the group with the strongest demand for the latest smart devices. Tens of millions of people play basketball in China, and many of them are fans of NBA teams and players.

Liu Jun, senior vice-president of Lenovo Group, is responsible for the company's mobile phone business. He expects Lenovo to ship up to 60 million smartphones in China this year.

"Lenovo is the smartphone brand with the fastest growth rate worldwide," Liu said at a Beijing briefing on Sunday.

According to SINO Market Research, Lenovo has been the second-largest smartphone vendor in the domestic market for 13 consecutive months, behind only Samsung.