Lenovo has a laptop for every user and the company always manages to maintain a fine balance between power, battery and portability, something that’s found in oodles in its new launches — the Yoga series as well as Legion and IdeaPad gaming laptops. After the launch, we sat down with Chandrika Jain, director, marketing, Lenovo India, for a quick chat.
In 2022, the laptop — for many — is no longer a shared device at home. What’s your take on it?
The pandemic suddenly supercharged the adoption of technology because we weren’t left with too many choices. Much like your household, my household went through a similar phase. We went from a single, personal device to multiple, personal devices, multiple official devices to do the job that we were doing. And that had an impact generally on technology companies. Lenovo has seen tremendous growth opportunity in the last few years. In the last year alone we have grown exponentially. We have grown by 38 per cent in revenue last year, we have closed the year at $2.2 billion, which is phenomenal.
Lenovo has a laptop for everyone, be it Yoga or Legion. What kind of growth are you witnessing and how is the user base evolving?
We are continuing to see market growth; IDC is still saying the market has strong demands. So for us, demand continues to stay stable. I think time will tell whether this is going to be continued demand or if it’s going to change. The pandemic has expanded the market.
Where do you see laptops in the coming months, now that many have gone back to office and students back to school?
Habit is a big thing. And what the pandemic did is trigger a habit in all of us. While children have started going back to school, you will notice and I’m sure it’s happening in your household as much as in my household, that once people come back, they use their laptops, whether it is to consume content, whether it is to stream something, whether it is to play games. So content consumption or usage of technology has not changed drastically, people are continuing because it is a matter of habit. I’m not seeing that demand suddenly come crashing down.
There is another aspect. Consider the way we work; Lenovo does a hybrid model of work. So I work a few days from home and I work a few days from office. Do I still need the technology that I needed last year? Absolutely. Do I need all the accessories? Do I need the laptop? Does my husband need his machines? Absolutely. My son is doing a hybrid style of tuitions; he goes on the weekend to see his tuition teachers, but he’s doing everything else online during weekdays to avoid traffic. So we are morphing into a slightly different world.
(Left to right) Suyash Singh (product manager, consumer business, Lenovo India), Chandrika Jain (director, marketing, Lenovo India), Dinesh Nair (director, consumer business, Lenovo India) and Ian Tan (Asia Pacific gaming lead, Lenovo)
Lenovo is already popular among youngsters. How is the brand connect with other age groups?
Lenovo connects well with different segments of audiences. Different products are built for the different segments of audiences. Now, in our own portfolio, you will see that we have products at an entry level or for first-time users. Ian (Tan, Asia Pacific gaming lead for Lenovo) was talking to you about IdeaPad Gaming 3, which is power packed but it has been built for the entry-level gamer, someone who is wallet conscious. As you go higher, then you have somebody who’s probably a gaming professional, somebody like me who’s sitting and having this interview… might be a gamer at night. We have always had products across segments. And we do appeal to different segments. Take the Yoga for example; we are going after an audience group of 25 to 45. It is a premium offering with exclusive features and experiences.
Warranty is a big aspect of your offerings….
When we buy devices, we buy experiences. The first thing that enters our head is that this is a fabulous product, it’s a great brand, it has equity, but what if anything goes wrong. The warranty we offer is of huge value and consideration to the consumer. Much like when we buy cars. It’s a delight when you get to know that you don’t have to worry about servicing the car for three years. I’m drawing the exact human insight of cars to computers, I don’t think they’re very different.
Gaming devices are becoming portable. It was unthinkable even a couple of years ago.
I think even the biggest gaming enthusiast today want all the power yet want a portable form factor. We are delivering big batteries because a gamer wouldn’t like to be disturbed for hours. Portability with performance is important in gaming. The kind of power and battery we are packing into a gaming device is fabulous. We are also being able to cool off these gaming devices easily. Depending on the mode you are playing in, gaming machines can get noisy but we have been able to manage this aspect.
New arrivals
Lenovo Yoga 9i, Yoga Slim 7i Pro, and Yoga 7i come in oatmeal, storm grey, and slate grey colours and will be available at Rs 1,69,990, Rs 1,06,990, and Rs 1,14,990 respectively. The Legion 5i, Legion 5i Pro in storm grey colour and Legion Slim 7i will be available at Rs 1,44,990, Rs 1,64,990, and Rs 1,50,990. The IdeaPad Gaming 3i in onyx grey color will be available starting at Rs 84,990. The machines are now in pre-order mode on Lenovo.com and Lenovo exclusive stores, and will be available from July 23 (across all online and offline channel partners).
