Lenovo introduced its first gaming telephone, the Legion Professional and Legion Duel, again in 2020. The primary units stood out with their high-end specs, gaming aesthetics, and twin USB-C charging ports. They had been nothing we’d seen earlier than and shortly gained traction from players and fans. Nevertheless, as you may need already learn the title, that wasn’t sufficient to assist preserve excessive prices, and Lenovo ultimately introduced that it was discontinuing its gaming smartphone enterprise altogether.
The information is hardly shocking, on condition that we heard rumors about Lenovo shutting down its gaming smartphone enterprise for some time. On March 29, 2023, the corporate introduced that it was shutting down its gaming enterprise and dedicated to exploring completely different type elements to help players.
A Lenovo spokesperson confirmed to Android Authority that the corporate had discontinued its gaming smartphone enterprise:
“Lenovo is discontinuing its Android-based Legion cell gaming telephones as a part of a wider enterprise transformation and gaming portfolio consolidation. As a frontrunner in gaming units and options, Lenovo is dedicated to advancing the gaming class throughout type elements, in addition to specializing in the place it may possibly carry essentially the most worth to the worldwide gaming neighborhood.”
Right here, we check out three believable explanations that might’ve led to the ultimate shutdown of Lenovo’s gaming telephone division. We check out why Lenovo failed to achieve traction and the way its competitors challenged it.
Lenovo failed to achieve traction outdoors of China
Lenovo Legion Duel from 2020
Lenovo entered the gaming smartphone market at a really difficult time, when most firms confronted shortages and shutdowns because of the raging pandemic. Regardless of the financial downturn and difficulties, Lenovo appeared to have achieved some success with its first Lenovo Legion Professional and Duel smartphones. The corporate even revealed their successors a 12 months later.
Nevertheless, the gaming telephones failed to achieve traction in Europe and different key markets, they usually by no means actually took off. Whereas we don’t have the gross sales numbers and the variety of items Lenovo has shipped, it appeared like the corporate was doing properly on its residence turf in China.
Lenovo failed to determine itself as a key gaming telephone participant within the trade, and it was typically onerous to seek out its units on cabinets in European and North American markets the place it was presupposed to be out there. Avid gamers typically needed to end result to importing units, introducing further tax and different authorized charges that made the telephones costlier.
The competitors made issues tougher
The present gaming smartphone market is dominated by three large gamers. Asus and its ROG lineup, nubia’s REDMAGIC gaming telephones, and the Xiaomi-backed BlackShark. It’s very aggressive and onerous to enter, but it appeared like Lenovo had all of it found out with its first few units.
To start with, Legion telephones had most issues players would’ve requested for. The telephones had flashy RGB colours within the type of a show on the again, two USB-C charging ports able to excessive charging speeds, the newest high-end Snapdragon SoC, and software program options that enhanced the gaming expertise.
By the top, Lenovo dropped a lot of the options in favor of a extra traditional design. The Lenovo Legion Y70 appeared like an ordinary smartphone and failed to face out. The telephone was additionally restricted to the Chinese language market and by no means left the nation.
All of it comes all the way down to ceaselessly rising prices
As restrictions began to ease, the demand started to develop, and because of this, components and different parts grew to become more durable and costlier to provide. The inflation has additionally made issues worse, and there are further tariffs that producers should cowl and, ultimately, move alongside to clients. This might’ve made it much more difficult for Lenovo to promote its units at affordable costs whereas sustaining a wholesome revenue margin.
The unknown telephone lineup and the low demand have probably contributed to Lenovo’s resolution towards releasing its current gaming telephones to a wider viewers. The Lenovo Legion Y70 was solely out there in China, and it was by no means launched in Europe or every other markets.
What’s subsequent for Lenovo?
Supply: Motorola
It’s onerous to foretell what an enormous firm like Lenovo may give you subsequent, however one can assume that it’ll probably deal with its rising enterprise merchandise. The corporate not too long ago introduced its first ThinkPhone by Motorola, providing seamless integration with ThinkPad and different Lenovo merchandise.
The corporate additionally acquired Motorola some time in the past, and it’s been specializing in reasonably priced and budget-oriented units ever since. Motorola tried to re-enter the market with a number of flagship units within the p. Nonetheless, it it did not compete with the likes of Google, Samsung, and Apple, which at the moment dominate the market in North America. That mentioned, Motorola continues to be holding up, and we count on the corporate to proceed its investments in creating extra finances and reasonably priced midrangers sooner or later.
Take a look at these highly effective gaming telephones
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RedMagic 8 Professional
The nubia REDMAGIC 8 Professional is among the finest and quickest gaming smartphones available on the market in 2023. It is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, as much as 16GB of RAM, and as much as 512GB of storage. It has responsive shoulder triggers, RGB lights, and even a 20,000 RPM fan to maintain issues cool. Should you’re after the best-performing units that may effortlessly play any video games you need, for nonetheless lengthy you need, the REDMAGIC 8 Professional could have you coated.
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Black Shark 5 Professional
The Black Shark 5 Professional is reasonably priced, highly effective, and options bodily shoulder set off buttons for a extra comfy and pleasing gameplay. It helps 120W quick charging, and it has an honest digicam setup on the again.
