Author | Chen Junda, Editor | Yun Peng
Zhidx reported on October 15 that Transsion Holdings, a mobile phone giant in Shenzhen, officially rang the bell and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, completing its A+H layout. Calculated at the final offering price of HKD 35.30 (approximately CNY 30.10), the net proceeds raised by Transsion Holdings in this listing amount to HKD 2.97 billion (approximately CNY 2.53 billion). As of 9:31 AM today, the stock price of Transsion Holdings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was HKD 34.2 (approximately CNY 29.17), down 3.12% from the offering price, with a total market capitalization of HKD 42.334 billion (approximately CNY 36.102 billion).
Transsion Holdings was listed on the SSE STAR Market of the A-share market in September 2019. As of 9:31 AM today, its A-share stock price was CNY 47.73, with a total market capitalization of CNY 54.946 billion. Compared with the closing price of CNY 48.29 for Transsion Holdings' A-shares on the 14th, the discount rate of this Hong Kong stock offering reached 37.7%.
Founded in 2013, Transsion Holdings is known in the industry as the "King of Mobile Phones in Africa". In 2024, its mobile phone sales reached 201 million units, and in 2025, its mobile phone sales reached 169 million units. Among them, on the African continent with a population of nearly 1.6 billion, Transsion Holdings sold 104 million mobile phones in a single year in 2024. According to data from Frost & Sullivan, in 2025, in terms of global market sales volume, Transsion Holdings is the mobile phone manufacturer with sales volume second only to Apple and Samsung, followed closely by Xiaomi; in terms of revenue, Transsion Holdings' revenue in 2025 was CNY 65.591 billion, ranking eighth in the global mobile phone market with a market share of 1.7%.
In emerging markets such as Africa, emerging Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, calculated by mobile phone sales volume in 2025, Transsion ranked first, and calculated by revenue in the same period, Transsion ranked fifth with a market share of 4.4%. The types of mobile phones sold by Transsion Holdings include smartphones and feature phones. In recent years, the proportion of revenue from smartphones has always been maintained at over 80%, accounting for 83.6% of total revenue in 2025; the sales volume and revenue proportion of feature phones have declined year by year, with the revenue proportion being only 5.5% in 2025, and further dropping to 4.2% in the first four months of 2026.
This offering introduced multiple cornerstone investors. Among them, industrial investors include Digimoc (a subsidiary of Lianfake), Jinxing Global (a company under Biyadi), Jiangbolong, and Hongxinyu, while other cornerstone investors include the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), Yifangda, etc. The future plans for Transsion Holdings' IPO include investing about 40% of the raised funds in AI-related technology R&D to accelerate product iteration, about 30% for marketing and brand building, about 20% for strengthening mobile Internet services and IoT products, and the remaining about 10% for working capital and general corporate purposes.
01.Memory Price Increases Impact Gross Profit Margin with Relatively Low R&D Expense Ratio
Overall, the revenue scale of Transsion Holdings is maintained in the range of CNY 60 billion to CNY 70 billion, but the net profit saw a significant decline in 2025, indicating a trend of growth under pressure.
In 2023, 2024, 2025, and the four months ended April 30, 2026, the revenues of Transsion Holdings were CNY 62.295 billion, CNY 68.715 billion, CNY 65.591 billion, and CNY 23.290 billion, respectively; the net profits were CNY 5.587 billion, CNY 5.597 billion, CNY 2.605 billion, and CNY 1.361 billion, respectively. During the reporting period, its R&D expenses were CNY 2.256 billion, CNY 2.517 billion, CNY 2.950 billion, and CNY 1.080 billion, accounting for3.6%, 3.7%, 4.5%, and 4.6% of total revenue, respectively, indicating a relatively low proportion of R&D expenses.
The prospectus shows that the revenue of Transsion Holdings increased by 10.3% from 2023 to 2024, mainly due to the increase in revenue generated by smartphones and the company's market expansion in the emerging Asia-Pacific market and Latin America; the revenue decreased by 4.5% from 2024 to 2025, mainly due to the slowdown in shipment pace to cope with the rising procurement costs of memory chips, as well as intensified competition in the Central and Eastern European markets; the revenue in the first four months of 2026 increased by 30.1% year-on-year, mainly benefiting from the increase in smartphone revenue. In 2023, 2024, 2025, and the four months ended April 30, 2026, the gross profit margins of Transsion Holdings were 23.2%, 20.9%, 18.7%, and 21.9%, respectively. According to the prospectus, the main reasons for the decrease in its gross profit margin in 2025 include: the increase in the procurement price of memory chips, the decrease in the average selling price of feature phones, and the increase in the sales proportion of home appliances with lower gross profit margins.
Currently, there are not many listed domestic mobile phone manufacturers that have disclosed gross profit margin data. Xiaomi, Transsion , and Zhongxing Telecommunication are the main enterprises among them, and the gross profit margin level of Transsion Holdings is basically similar to that of mainstream mobile phone manufacturers in the industry. In 2025, the gross profit margin of Transsion was 22.9%, higher than Xiaomi's 20.46% and lower than Zhongxing Telecommunication's 24.68%.
In the first four months of 2026, its gross profit margin rebounded to 21.9%, mainly because the company and other major manufacturers raised the selling prices of smartphones in 2026 to cope with the continuous increase in memory chip costs. From 2023 to the first four months of 2026, the revenue proportion of Transsion Holdings' mobile phone products (including smartphones and feature phones) was 92.0%, 92.0%, 89.1%, and 86.8%, respectively, always being its main source of revenue, but the proportion showed a slow downward trend, among which the revenue proportion brought by the feature phone business is declining year by year. In addition, Transsion's IoT products, energy storage products, and mobility products also contributed a portion of the revenue.
Transsion Holdings targets the usage needs of users in emerging markets, and most of its revenue comes from Africa and the emerging Asia-Pacific market. From 2023 to 2025, the revenue proportion of the African market increased from 34.9% to 37.7%, and the revenue amount increased from CNY 21.771 billion to CNY 24.753 billion; during the same period, the revenue proportion of the emerging Asia-Pacific market remained at about 36%, and the two markets combined contributed about 70% of the revenue. This means that while maintaining its advantages in the African market, Transsion Holdings is also continuously expanding its user base in other markets.
02.Average Price of Mobile Phones is CNY 422.5 with the Most Expensive Model Under CNY 4,500
The products of Transsion Holdings consist of mobile phones (smartphones and feature phones), mobile Internet services, IoT products, energy storage products, and light electric mobility devices. The company has launched three mobile phone brands: TECNO for mid-to-high-end consumers, Infinix for young consumers, and itel for mass-market consumers. On Jumia, one of the mainstream e-commerce platforms in Africa, the highest-priced mobile phone under Transsion's TECNO brand, the PHANTOM V FLIP 2, is priced at 882,000 Nigerian Naira (approximately CNY 4,436), while the entry-level feature phone of its itel brand is priced at only 9,390 Nigerian Naira (approximately CNY 47) after discount.
In terms of sales volume, the sales volume of Transsion Holdings' smartphones has steadily increased overall, while that of feature phones has declined year by year. The total sales volume of mobile phones reached 201 million units in 2024; the total sales volume of mobile phones in 2025 was 169 million units, of which 96.81 million were smartphones and 72.23 million were feature phones. The average price of its mobile phone products is continuously rising, with the average price in the first four months of 2026 being CNY 422.5.
In terms of production, Transsion Holdings' smartphone products are manufactured by its own production bases. In addition, it has engaged a large number of ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) suppliers to produce some smartphones, feature phones, IoT products, and other products besides the self-produced smartphones. As of the last practicable date, Transsion Holdings has six production bases located in Chongqing, Shenzhen, Nanchang, Wuxi, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia, respectively, among which the Wuxi production base started trial production in April 2026. In terms of raw materials, Transsion Holdings mainly purchases from distributors in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan of China, and the raw materials mainly include electronic components (including memory chips and SoC, etc.), cameras, and screens. In 2023, 2024, 2025, and the four months ended April 30, 2026, the top five suppliers accounted for 36.7%, 37.0%, 34.5%, and 50.2% of Transsion Holdings' total procurement amount, respectively, and the procurement amount from the largest supplier accounted for 10.8%, 12.3%, 9.2%, and 17.2% of the total procurement amount, respectively.
The customers of Transsion Holdings are mainly distributors. In 2023, 2024, 2025, and the four months ended April 30, 2026, the revenue generated from the top five customers was CNY 7.920 billion, CNY 9.997 billion, CNY 8.787 billion, and CNY 3.857 billion, respectively, accounting for 12.7%, 14.5%, 13.4%, and 16.6% of the revenue in the same period, respectively. During the track record period, the revenue from the largest customer accounted for 3.5%, 4.0%, 3.1%, and 5.6% of the total revenue, respectively.
03.Founder Left Bodao to Start a Business in the South and Won the African Mobile Phone Sales Championship in 2015
The story of Transsion Holdings began with an unadopted research report. In 1996, Zhu Zhaojiang, the founder of Transsion Holdings, graduated from Nanchang Hangkong University and subsequently joined Bodao, rising from a salesman selling pagers to the sales champion in North China. Since 2003, he has been responsible for expanding Bodao's overseas business, increasing Bodao's annual mobile phone exports to 6.11 million units, firmly ranking first in China at that time. This experience also made him one of the most experienced sales veterans in China who understands the mobile phones in overseas emerging markets best.
During his time at Bodao, Zhu Zhaojiang traveled to more than 90 countries and regions, discovering a market in Africa that was collectively ignored by international giants: this continent with a population of over 1 billion and an average age of only 18 had a mobile phone penetration rate of less than 10%. Although Nokia and Samsung had technological advantages, their pricing of hundreds of dollars deterred the general public. He wrote a detailed African market research report, hoping to persuade Bodao to enter the African market. But Bodao, busy with the domestic price war, did not adopt this suggestion. In 2006, against the backdrop of Bodao sliding into losses, the 33-year-old Zhu Zhaojiang took several old colleagues south to Shenzhen and founded Transsion in Yuehai Subdistrict, adjacent to Huaqiangbei. In August 2006, Transsion launched its own brand TECNO and entered the African market.
In response to the unique needs of the African market, Transsion has done a lot of localization work. What made Transsion famous in Africa in one battle was the TECNO T780 mobile phone launched in 2007, which was the first dual-SIM dual-standby mobile phone mainly targeted at the African market. At that time, there were numerous operators in Africa and cross-network call rates were high. Users generally held multiple SIM cards. Dual-SIM dual-standby precisely hit the users' pain points, and later Transsion even launched models with quad-SIM quad-standby. Zhu Zhaojiang also found in his research that the camera algorithms of mainstream mobile phones were calibrated based on Caucasians and Asians, leaving dark-skinned users with only dark outlines and a mouth of white teeth in photos. Transsion Holdings then organized a team to develop an imaging algorithm based on eye and teeth positioning, allowing African users to take clear facial features even in low light. In terms of channels, Transsion Holdings painted its TECNO brand logos all over the streets and alleys of Africa, launched a large number of TV advertisements, and joined hands with a large number of local distributors to capture the sinking market. In 2015, Transsion's mobile phone sales officially ranked first in Africa, and the "King of Africa" was thus crowned. In 2019, Transsion Holdings was successfully listed on the SSE STAR Market of the A-share market, becoming one of the representative enterprises listed in the early stage of the SSE STAR Market. In 2024, its mobile phone sales reached 200 million units, ranking among the top three in global sales.
04.Lianfake Holds Over 5% Shares with Biyadi, Jiangbolong, etc. Participating in the Placement
As of April 30, 2026, Transsion Holdings had a total of 26,008 employees globally, with 5,019 R&D personnel, accounting for 19.3%, of which about 27.2% hold master's degrees or above. It has been granted over 3,000 patents at home and abroad, including over 1,400 invention patents. Transsion Holdings has set up R&D centers in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Chongqing. Through integrated software and hardware development, it enhances imaging, design, user experience, gaming, AI, and charging technologies. Currently, the company has launched a series of key technologies, including AI imaging technology, fast charging technology, and AI assistants. The controlling shareholder of the company is Transsion Investment with a 46.71% stake, and the actual controller is Zhu Zhaojiang, executive director, chairman, and general manager of Transsion Holdings, with a 20.68% stake; immediately after the completion of the global offering, the shareholding ratio of Transsion Investment will be diluted to 43.44%, and Zhu Zhaojiang will have the right to exercise 43.44% of the voting rights at the company's general meeting of shareholders through Transsion Investment.
The other shareholders of Transsion Holdings are Digimoc Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Lianfake Technology Co., Ltd., and Beijing Chuanjiali, holding 6.22% and 5.39% of the shares, respectively, which will be diluted to 5.78% and 5.01%, respectively, immediately after the completion of the global offering. There are currently no other shareholders holding more than 5% of the shares.
In 2025, Transsion Holdings paid a total remuneration of CNY 24.679 million to its team of directors and supervisors, of which Zhu Zhaojiang's remuneration was CNY 2.616 million.
05.Conclusion: Revenue and Profit Under Pressure as Transsion Bets on AI
Today, more and more Chinese enterprises are targeting the overseas emerging markets where Transsion focuses. Manufacturers such as Xiaomi and OPPO have also launched high cost-performance products in these markets. The market position of Transsion Holdings has been challenged to a certain extent, and the growth of revenue and profit has not yet achieved breakthrough results. At the same time, compared with other mobile phone manufacturers, Transsion's business layout is relatively single, and its IoT products, energy storage, and other businesses outside of mobile phones have not yet become new revenue pillars.
Currently, the company is actively deploying the business ecosystem model of "mobile phone + mobile Internet services + IoT products and others". While broadening product categories, Transsion Holdings has also set its sights on AI, planning to invest in AI infrastructure, develop AI small language models tailored for emerging markets, enhance AI chip capabilities, develop AI assistants and AI agents, and upgrade its self-developed Transsion OS. However, whether these new businesses can boost its performance still needs continuous observation.