China-based Lenovo jumped into the world's 10 largest smartphone vendors for the first quarter and has set an ambitious goal of shipping 60 million smartphones in fiscal year 2013 (April 2013-March 2014), which is expected to benefit Lenovo's existing Taiwan-based ODMs and EMS providers Compal Communications, Foxconn International Holdings, Wistron NeWeb and Qisda, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.

　　Lenovo, taking the advantage of its IT brand image and strong retail network in the China market as well as through close cooperation with mobile telecom carriers, has become the second largest smartphone vendor there next only to Samsung Electronics, the sources pointed out.

　　With entry-level smartphones priced at about CYN1,000 (US$162) being mainstream of shipments, Lenovo aims to surpass Samsung to become the largest vendor in the China market in two years, the sources indicated. In addition to China, Lenovo has started tapping emerging markets in Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe.

　　If Lenovo attains its target shipments of 60 million smartphones, it will surpass China-based vendors ZTE (with 2013 target shipments of 50 million units), LG Electronics (45 million units) and Sony Mobile Communications (42 million units) to become one of the five largest vendors worldwide in 2013, the sources noted.

　　Although with entry-level smartphones being mainstream, Lenovo has launched mid-range and high-end models, for example, K900 for sale at CNY3,000, the sources indicated.