Not one, two or three; Gionee outdoes everyone by launching eight smartphones at a single event

The bezel-less trend has been all anyone can talk about in 2018. Chinese smartphone manufacturer Gionee made that abundantly clear at an event in Shenzhen, China on 26 November. Gionee, founded in 2012, is one of the largest mobile phone manufacturers in China. Gionee has done what no other manufacturer has done, except Indian brand Micromax.

Gionee has gone ahead and updated almost its entire portfolio in one fell swoop. They launched eight smartphones, all at once, each one touting an edge-to-edge display. The major differentiator is the price. The smartphones launched are as follows:

• Gionee S11s
• Gionee S11
• Gionee M7
• Gionee M7 Plus
• Gionee F6
• Gionee F205
• Gionee Steel M7 Power
• Gionee M7 Mini

Furthermore, according to reports (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/technology/story/gionee-launches-s11s-m7-plus-and-six-other-bezel-less-phones-in-china/1/1097655.html), the company has partnered with a whopping 900 games and 2,000 apps for FullView display compatibility.

The flagship among these eight products is Gionee S11s (while the S11 is a watered down version) which comes with a glass and metal design. The S11s is powered by MediaTek Helio P30 and paired with 6GB of RAM. It comes with 64GB of storage (expandable as always via a microSD card). It comes with a 3,600 mAh battery and Android Nougat 7.1.1. There are four cameras on this one (something that is also becoming a trend). On the rear, we have 16-megapixel and 8-megapixel shooters. On the front, it is even better. 20-megapixel along with 8-megapixel shooter. The phone runs on Amigo OS 5.0.

The Gionee S11, as pointed out above, is a watered-down version of the S11s. There is also the M7 Plus that comes with a massive 5,000 mAh battery and 128GB of internal storage. It has a massive 6.43-inch AMOLED screen, putting it squarely in the phablet category. It also costs more than the S11.

The M7 sits further below the M7 Plus. Then come the rest of them.

Gionee does a Micromax

It was back in April of 2016 when homegrown mobile phone manufacturer Micromax launched a mindboggling 15 phones in a single day. Micromax had launched 15 phones to ward off the rising competition in Vivo, Oppo, Huawei and Gionee and the leader of the pack, Samsung.

The company had taken a "step back" so that they could "realign its portfolio".

"We are watchful of them, but not worried. The life-cycle of Chinese brands is short-lived. You cannot win the Indian market with two or three products." said Vikas Jain, co-founder of Micromax. It seems that it didn't work out as the company is still struggling to date. None of their 15 smartphones has lit the market on fire.

Even Xiaomi, a company with multiple smartphones differentiated merely by price, hasn't launched more than two smartphones at once. It launches phones with a considerable gap, enough to convince the consumer that there is something new.

Will Gionee's gamble pay off in China? The odds are against it. The one main reason why this won't work is that of the onslaught of products. The customer will be confused and there is hardly much differentiation in the products released.

India has witnessed the launch of the M7 Power and rumours are afloat of the flagship S11 coming to India in December. Whether or not the rest of the smartphones will make it across to India, is yet to be seen.