This archive report was first published on 25 September 2019.
Published on September 25, 2019, Safaricom announced that it had sold more than 600,000 Neon smartphones in 2019, marking a significant milestone in the company's efforts to make quality smartphones accessible to a wider audience.
The Neon range of smartphones, which was revamped in April 2019 to introduce the most affordable 4G smartphone in the country at KES 3,999, has been a huge success, with customers embracing the devices as their preferred choice.
According to Michael Joseph, CEO of Safaricom, the Neon Smartphones were introduced to cater to customers seeking quality and reliable smartphones at an affordable price. 'We introduced the Neon Smartphones range to cater to customers seeking quality and reliable smartphones at an affordable price. The devices are especially designed to appeal to first-time smartphone users and have been received quite well, emerging as our most preferred smartphone range,' he said.
The Neon smartphones offer an optimum combination of screen-size, battery capacity, device storage, camera, and phone memory at low prices. Additionally, the devices are engineered to deliver superior connectivity, offering fast data speeds off Safaricom's countrywide 4G network.
As part of its efforts to make the Neon smartphones more appealing, Safaricom has partnered with Google to deliver an optimized version of Android, known as Android (Go edition), on the Neon devices. This configuration of the Android OS is optimized for entry-level devices and comes with a tailored suite of popular Google apps.
The Neon range of Smartphones is available under Safaricom's Maisha Ni Digital campaign through the firm's more than 50 shops across the country, Safaricom dealers, and online at Masoko.com. Besides being the most affordable 4G devices in the country, the Neon range are also the most affordable VoLTE capable devices in Kenya.
Launched in June 2019, Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology enhances call quality, empowering Safaricom 4G customers to make crystal-clear voice calls, even in noisy environments such as markets. The technology further enables customers to make video calls with other capable VoLTE devices at no extra cost.
Here are the prices of the Neon smartphones:
- Neon Lite (4G and VoLTE): KES 4,999
- Neon Nova LTE (4G and VoLTE): KES 4,599
- Neon Ray (4G and VoLTE): KES 3,999
- Neon Storm: KES 3,349
- Neon Kicka 4: KES 3,199 (Masoko only price)
