A mobile phone only earns 16 yuan. Domestic mobile phones have entered the top five in the world because of their cheapness. 200 million units were sold in a year.

In the global smartphone sales rankings, everyone knows that Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi have been in the top three for many years. The fourth and fifth places are usually the two brothers VIVO and OPPO, but there are occasional exceptions, and that is the Chinese manufacturer Transsion. Sometimes it ranks fourth in the world, sometimes it ranks fifth, and sometimes it is squeezed out of the top five by VIVO and OPPO.

For example, in the third quarter of 2025, Transsion returned to fourth place in the world, surpassing OPPO and VIVO.

In fact, Transsion not only has high sales of smartphones, but also has high sales of feature phones. The ratio between smartphones and feature phones is almost 1:1.

Transsion previously predicted that the sales of mobile phones in 2025 will exceed 200 million units, including more than 100 million smartphones and more than 100 million feature phones. If all mobile phones are combined, Transsion will be among the top three in the world, only slightly less than Samsung and Apple, and more than Xiaomi.

Why is Transsion so awesome? There is only two words for the secret, and that is "cheap".

How cheap is it? Let me do some math for you and you will understand.

In the first half of 2025, Transsion’s revenue was 29.077 billion yuan and net profit was 1.242 billion yuan. Among them, the mobile phone business revenue was 26.093 billion yuan, and the sales volume of mobile phones (including feature phones and smart phones) totaled 78.563 million units, which works out to an average of 332 yuan per mobile phone.

The average price of smartphones sold by Transsion is only 547.5 yuan, while the price of feature phones is only 50.1 yuan.

If we assume that all profits of 1.242 billion yuan are contributed by mobile phones, the average profit of a mobile phone is only 16 yuan. This profit value is obviously lower than Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, VIVO, and Honor.

In fact, it is also because of its low price that Transsion has been able to shine overseas. After all, only Transsion can make a 500-yuan smartphone. Xiaomi’s Redmi is probably not that cheap.

Of course, Transsion's main markets are also relatively underdeveloped regions, such as Africa, Latin America, and some poorer Southeast Asia, India and other places.

Especially in Africa, Transsion ranks first with a sales share of more than 60%, and has been called the "King of African Mobile Phones". In 2024, more than 100 million mobile phones were sold in Africa.

In addition to Africa, Transsion also ranks first in emerging Asia-Pacific markets and the Middle East, with shares of 15.4% and 22.8% respectively.

Transsion has many brands, such as TECNO, Infinix, itel, etc. These brands actually correspond to different grades. In different regions, different brands and different grades cover different consumer levels of the market.

Of course, Transsion's success is also due to Made in China. After all, relying on the high efficiency and low cost of Made in China and the complete advantages of China's supply chain, it really has no rivals abroad.

Transsion is currently undergoing a transformation. After all, the low-end market has reached its ceiling and is moving towards the mid- and high-end, and it has to compete with Xiaomi, OV, etc. Therefore, Transsion is also launching computers, tablets, watches, headphones, TVs, kitchen appliances, Internet of Things products, etc., and even two/three-wheeled electric vehicles. As for whether the future will start from the low-end and develop stronger like mobile phones, let us wait and see.