Micromax Sets Foot in Russia; Launches Canvas Beat, Canvas Social

Popular Indian smartphone maker Micromax has officially forayed in to the Russian market with the launch of two flagship Canvas series handsets.

"At Micromax, our emphasis has always been to democratize technology for masses around the world through an innovative product portfolio. As we look to take Micromax to key international markets, we are excited to announce our foray into the Russian mobile handset market which has immense potential not only for smartphones and features phones, but also for innovative tablets and data products," said Rahul Sharma, Micromax co-founder.

"Our initial focus in the Russian market is to replicate the success witnessed in our other markets in the last couple of years. We have carved the vision for ourselves to be the 1^st Indian hardware brand to be global and set our footprint with Russia as the first developed market to venture into," he added.

The company has roped in VVP Group as their official Russian distribution partners and would soon launch a promotion campaign to enhance the brand visibility in the region via print, online and television.

The new Russian model Canvas Beat A114R is variant of the company's Canvas MAd handset which was launched only a few days ago in India. The only difference between the two is that the new device is powered by the Broadcom chipset and will not come pre-load with the MAd app. It sports a 5.0-inch qHD (960x540p) IPS display and runs on Android v4.2 Jelly Bean OS with 1GB RAM, 4GB inbuilt memory, 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, 8.0-megapixel camera and a 2.0-megapixel front camera.

Canvas Social is also a variant of the Indian model Canvas 2.2 A114. Here too, the difference between them is that the Russia bound device packs Broadcom CPU. It flaunts a 4.5-inch FWVGA (854x480p) display and ships with Android v4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS, 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 512MB RAM and 4GB storage space.    

Along with these two Canvas series smartphones, Micromax has also launched budget-priced Bolt Series (A61, A36 and A28) devices and plans to release as many as 14 handsets in the initial phase.

Micromax, India's second biggest smartphone company, aims to make it to the top four brands in Russia and the firm has already made arrangements to set up 60 service centers across the country by the end of January.  

Key specifications of Canvas Beat and Canvas Social: