Lenovo Vibe K5, the latest entry-level handset from the Chinese hardware maker, has cross the 1 lakh sales mark in India, 8 days after it first became available in the country.
This makes the phone the second fastest moving phone this year after the Le 1s, which sold around 1.5 lakh units in the first eight days.
Lenovo said it will no longer insist on preregistration for those who want to buy the phone starting next Wednesday, an indication that it expects demand to remain under control from next week onwards.
Insisting on pre-registration in a falling demand situation results in stocks remaining unsold even as many people who would otherwise have been interested in the model are unable to purchase as they did not register in time.
It could also indicate that Lenovo plans to put more stocks on sale next week compared to the 50,000 units it did in each of the first two flash sales.
At its first flash sale a week ago, it had managed to get orders for 52,000 units, followed by 48,500 units sold yesterday.
The Vibe K5 Note is among the best three smartphones in the entry-level (Rs 6,000-7,000) range, along with Swipe Elite Plus and Coolpad Note 3 Lite.
Though only modest by specifications — 2 GB of RAM, Snapdragon 415 chipset and a 5-inch 720p display — the phone is interesting because of Lenovo’s reputation in the entry-level segment.
Unlike its Indian competitors, the Chinese major has a successful trackrecord of selling affordable, yet decent models in this category.
Lenovo competes with brands like Intex, Meizu, Micromax and Swipe. Though Xiaomi used to be a big contender in this market, the firm has of late shifted its focus to the mid and high end markets.
By specifications, the Vibe K5 trails both the Coolpad Note 3 Lite as well as the Swipe Elite Plus.
While the Coolpad Note 3 comes with a fingerprint sensor and 3 GB of RAM, the Vibe K5 offers no fingerprint sensor and comes with just 2 GB of RAM.
However, the Vibe model does support three bands of 4G (compared to only two on the Coolpad model) as well as 4G voice calling, which is absent on the Coolpad model.
On the other hand, the Swipe Elite Plus has a lot to offer, including 30% more power, 50% more RAM and a full-HD display.
The key pluses of K5, such as 4G voice calling, are also present on the Swipe Elite Plus though there no clarity on whether it supports band 5 LTE (used by Reliance Communications).
However, because of its powerful Snapdragon 615 chipset, it does come with a full-HD display (full-HD displays are not supported by Vibe K5’s chipset) and, as we noted before, more power. Like the Coolpad model, this one also comes with 3 GB of RAM.
However, on the downside, despite having a larger battery (3 Ah vs 2.7 Ah), the Swipe model runs out of juice faster than the Lenovo model, going by initial indications. This is especially a problem for those who keep their phones turned on all the time.
The Snapdragon 615 chipset inside the Swipe model has a reputation for consuming a lot of power and generating a lot of heat — and both of these problems are present in the Swipe model just like other SD 615 handsets.
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