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transsion holdings, the "king of mobile phones in africa", has immediate troubles, such as patent litigation and the retention of its cfo. it also has future concerns, such as high-end transformation, expansion after the saturation of the african market, and localization in the latin american and south asian markets, which all require accurate decisions by zhu zhaojiang and other management.

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many people are not familiar with transsion holdings. however, it is well-known overseas, especially in the african market. its three mobile phones, tecno, itel and infinix, have swept the african continent, helping transsion to gain a market share of about 40%, making it the veritable "king of african mobile phones".

after quietly making a fortune in africa, the low-key transsion holdings finally faced a turbulent period.

from being accused of tax evasion in kenya to being sued by qualcomm, to cfo xiao yonghui being detained, a series of negative news came. in the capital market, the market was already weak, and coupled with the sudden attack of negative news, transsion holdings' stock price has fallen by 20% since 2024. if we look at the high point of 124.92 yuan/share on april 18 to 71 yuan/share on july 15, in less than three months, transsion holdings has fallen by 43%, and its market value has lost 60 billion yuan. as of press time, transsion holdings' market value is 87.738 billion yuan.

trouble

transsion holdings just ascended to the altar in 2023. in the fourth quarter of this year, transsion holdings' mobile phone shipments ranked fourth in the world. for the whole year, transsion holdings took the fifth place in the global smartphone market for the first time with 95 million units and 8.1% market share.

in the first quarter of 2024, transsion holdings once again achieved a top four market position with a growth rate of 80%, and was at its peak.

but within a few days, it was reported that transsion holdings was being investigated by the kenya revenue authority for suspected tax evasion, involving an amount of up to us$3.02 billion. it was reported that three officials raided transsion's headquarters in nairobi, the capital of kenya, and found some evidence of suspected tax evasion.

but soon, transsion holdings came out to refute the rumor and responded, "after verification by the company, the report is false and inaccurate."

the tax evasion incident has come to a temporary end, but news has emerged again that large technology companies such as qualcomm have accused transsion holdings of failing to reach a patent licensing agreement and suspected of infringing patent rights.

at the same time, philips sued transsion holdings in india, and nokia and other companies tried to negotiate a licensing agreement with transsion holdings.

before the patent litigation case is effectively handled, transsion holdings may be hindered by future court litigation at any time. before transsion holdings, oppo was a precedent. in 202, nokia sued oppo in germany and eventually won. oppo series mobile phones were subsequently removed from the shelves in germany. after paying the technology usage fee in 2024, oppo and nokia reached a settlement agreement and re-listed in the german app store.

regarding the patent lawsuit, transsion holdings stated that it respects the intellectual property rights of third parties and is willing to reach a licensing agreement with the patent holder through friendly negotiations. the attitude of "friendly negotiations" will prevent transsion holdings from repeating the mistake of oppo being removed from the shelves in germany. as the headquarters, transsion holdings naturally knows what to do.

before one wave of troubles is over, another wave of troubles arises. on the evening of september 6, transsion holdings announced a major event, saying that the zhen'an district supervisory committee of dandong city, liaoning province issued a "detention notice" and a "case filing notice", taking detention measures and filing a case against cfo xiao yonghui.

xiao yonghui has been the chief financial officer of transsion holdings since 2014, and has served in this position for more than ten years. before being detained, xiao yonghui attended a research event on august 28 attended by 284 institutions and 363 people.

as soon as the news of the filing of a case for detention came out, the capital market was directly pulled up. the maximum intraday decline that day exceeded 8%, and the stock closed down 4.99% at 77.05 yuan per share that day, with a total market value of 87 billion yuan.

it's hard to make money in silence

in 2006, transsion holdings grew rapidly by solving the pain points of dark-skinned africans in taking photos and supporting dual-sim dual-standby. the cctv documentary "the road to prosperity" detailed the "customized" beauty function launched by transsion mobile phones on the african continent.

by 2018, transsion's mobile phone market share in africa exceeded 48%, officially becoming the "no. 1 mobile phone brand in africa". by the first half of 2024, transsion's mobile phone market share in africa will still exceed 40%.

however, in recent years, with the expansion of domestic mobile phone manufacturers, including xiaomi, oppo and vivo, in the african market, transsion's market position has been seriously challenged. the obvious slowdown in retail sales growth in recent years is enough to illustrate the problem.

"digital intelligence research society" found that from 2020 to 2023, transsion holdings' performance growth rates in the african continent were 18.14%, 7.95%, -14.87% and 6.94% respectively.

under such circumstances, transsion holdings will extend its tentacles to emerging markets such as south asia and latin america where the product gross profit margin is lower than that in africa.

besides, transsion holdings has become the king of mobile phones in africa because it has seized the generational gap in the region. transsion holdings has moved from low-end feature phones to high-end smartphones, and even recently released the phantom ultimate 2 three-fold screen concept phone.

however, in the view of the digital intelligence research society, transsion's move from the low-end feature phone market to the high-end smartphone market will inevitably be besieged by existing smartphone players. besides, xiaomi, vivo and oppo are also entering the african continent in the hope of getting a piece of the pie.

the days when transsion holdings made a fortune quietly are gone. the current transsion may be the best transsion in the years to come.