Mara Group Introduces The First Set Of ‘Made In Africa’ Smartphones

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Mara Group from Rwanda is debuting in the smartphone market with the launch of the Mara X and the Mara Z. The smartphones, branded as 'Made in Africa', is Rwanda's first step to becoming a technological hub. The new smartphones will run Google's Android and are set to compete with other global brands like Samsung and others.

 
Mara Group Introduces Smartphones

Mara's Made In Africa Smartphones

The Mara X and the Mara Z are priced at RWF 175,750 (approx. Rs. 13,499) and RWF 120,250 (approx. Rs.9,240), respectively. The Mara group is targeting to compete with Samsung in the smartphone market. Presently, Samsung's cheapest smartphone costs roughly less than Rs. 4,000. But according to Mara Group CEO Ashish Thakkar, Mara is for those who pay more for quality.

 

Mara is the first African company to enter the smartphone industry. The smartphones developed by Mara will be assembled in Egypt, Ethiopia, Algeria, and South Africa. However, the components for the devices will be imported from other countries.

"We are actually the first who are doing manufacturing. We are making the motherboards, we are making the sub-boards during the entire process. There are over 1,000 pieces per phone," Thakkar told Reuters. He also said that the assembly plant cost $24 million and can make 1,200 smartphones per day.

Mara Group Introduces Smartphones

Mara Smartphones Specifications

The Mara X comes with a 5.5-inch HD Corning Gorilla Glass screen and a Mediatek quad-core processor. The primary rear camera is a 13MP shooter and there's a 5MP selfie camera in the front. The Mara Z is the bigger smartphone and comes with 5.7-inch Ultra HD damage-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass display and a Snapdragon octa-core processor. The Mara Z has a 13MP rear camera setup as well as a 13MP selfie camera.

The Mara Z has facial recognition and fingerprint scanner, whereas the Mara X has only a fingerprint scanner for security. Both the smartphones are equipped with Dolby Audio 5.1 and come with in-built apps like Mentor and App Control.

The Mara Group hopes to gain from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, a pact aimed at forming a 55-nation trade bloc, to boost sales across Africa, Thakkar said. The company also hopes to increase smartphone usage among Rwanda citizens, which is currently at 15%.

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