A Growth Engine for Europe

Ever since Wiko was founded in Marseille in 2011, the company’s mission has been to put a mobile phone in every pocket. Offering a balance between price, technology and design, Wiko was the first brand to sell a 3G smartphone for under €50 and a 4G smartphone for under €100. Today, Wiko operates in almost 40 countries, where its products appeal as much to the general public as to busy professionals.

In just five years Wiko has become a major player in the mobile phone market, with more than 220 employees in France and a total of 500 employees worldwide. Since the very beginning, the company has used Android for all of its devices. “This operating system has really allowed us to grow with smartphones since 2012. By offering us a reliable and highly flexible ecosystem, Android allows us to focus entirely on the functionality of our devices and key differentiating features,” explains Olivier Simon, Technical Director at Wiko Global. He considers Android to be a true partner: “Without Google, we would never have been able to achieve this degree of personalisation for our devices.”

The brand’s technology is already a success, and the company’s economic development is set to repeat this. With 15 million devices sold in 2016 and a growth in sales that doubles year on year, Wiko is the no. 2 brand in Portugal, no. 3 in Italy, no. 4 in Belgium and no. 5 in Spain, in terms of devices sold independently of phone operators. “In 2011, we only had a presence in France. Today, thanks to Android, we are the fifth most popular brand in Europe and have set our sights on becoming a top five global mobile phone company by 2020.”