Offering carrier-branded smartphones must be a sound strategy for Orange, which keeps adding these devices left and right. Last year, the French operator group unveiled 14 new own-brand devices, doubling the number from last year. And you know why – cause these phones are selling like crazy, offering great value for money to the users. Sure enough, folks with money will opt for a flagship Samsung, HTC, Apple or LG device, but the majority of users don’t want to spend us much on their mobile phone purchase. And these users like what Orange has to offer. In fact, the carrier’s own range of smartphones grew by 40% year on year (2012-2013) across its European footprint and market share also grew by over 40% last year, maintaining its “fastest growing brand” status in Orange’s portfolio.
That said, we’re not surprised to see Orange launching additional phones. They have two devices to announce at Mobile World Congress – Orange Gova and Orange Reyo. The first of the two is touted as the “Orange’s fastest own-brand 4G smartphone to date,” rocking 4G’s optimum speeds of up to 150Mbps. It has a slender 7.85mm profile, 4.5-inch qHD screen, 1.2Ghz quad-core CPU, 5-megapixel camera, 8GB of internal storage and HD voice support. Android 4.3 Jelly Bean is running the show. The Gova will be available from April in Poland, Spain, Slovakia, and Luxembourg as well as Moldova, Tunisia and Mauritius. Exact pricing and specific availability will be announced locally.
As for the Orange Reyo, it comes with a 5-inch IPS display, 5-megapixel rear camera, 1.3GHz dual-core processor, HD voice support, and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The Reyo is available now in Spain, Slovakia, Romania and Poland. Exact pricing is determined on a local basis.
Last but not least, Orange also announced Orange Updates for its new smartphones, enabling easy access to update Orange’s services such as Orange Wednesday’s and Orange TV. Moreover, the service informs customers about the latest Orange apps without the need to go into Google Play Store to discover them.