There was at the time a Spanish initiative for smartphones and some extra electronic devices, did you know about it? Well if not, we will tell you everything that was behind it and what happened to BQ mobiles.
Mobile phones, electronic readers and even 3D printers, accompanied by years of high sales, it seemed that everything was going well. This is the story of the Spanish mobile brand that could have been more.
History of BQ: the Spanish brand
It all started in approximately 2005, where a group of students from the Polytechnic University of Madrid founded a company called Mundo Reader S. L. By then they were working on launching a electronic reader, one of its first star products.
Fast forward to 2009, where the company launches e-book readers under the brand Booq, which would later become just BQ. They began to design electronic readers for companies such as Telefónica (Movistar), Fnac or Casa del Libro (largest bookstore chain in Spain).
Little by little they were gaining ground in the world of technology, exploring in the 3D printer trade, in conjunction with Makerbot.
It was not until 2013, when BQ mobile phones officially began to be manufactured, that the brand announced its first smartphone with the name Aquaris 4.5.
The first BQ phones in 2013-2014
El BQ Aquaris 4.5 was the firm's first mobile offering acceptable characteristics for the models of the time.
Aquaris A4.5 Android One
Aquaris 4.5 had a 4,5 ″ screen and IPS technology. At the heart of the mobile had a dual-core processor, the Cortex A9. I enjoyed 1 GB RAM, 4 GB storage memory and allowed dual SIM with 3G connectivity. All this, at the time, for a cost of 179 euros.
The brand began to stand out for its excellent reputation for after-sales service. Then new versions of the mobile phone were introduced, such as the Aquaris 5.0, Aquaris 5 HD, and Aquaris 5.7 (the latter being one of their flagship phones).
Starting 2014, BQ shared its new range of E-range mobiles (Aquaris E5 HD, Aquaris E5 FHD, Aquaris E6…) the first smartphones developed 100% in Spain. In addition to mobile phones, they also promoted the development of tablets, such as the Aquaris E10, also the first made in Spain.
The success of BQ
We can divide the success of the brand into several phases, especially when They started using aluminum as custom material on your devices. Also an important point was the Integration of Snapdragon processors, which was undoubtedly a huge leap in the world of smartphones.
In their first steps into the world of smart phones, they used Asian designs for their phones, but very soon they switched to create improvements to your designs in Spain, with only assembly in China.
The E range of the impulse brand agreements with GoogleMany relationships with various operators and negotiations to open to the foreign market.
Free smartphones Aquaris E5 model were at the time the best sellers in all of Spain. The brand stood out thanks to its customization capacity for its devices, offering resource optimization and a good guarantee.
BQ Aquaris E5 mobile
All the sales that were generated, especially at Christmas 2015, with people buying the Aquaris M5 model to take home, were decreasing in the following year 2016. The dreams were turning into nightmares. Mobile phones had terminal failures, loss of coverage and massive returns began.
BQ mobile phones disappear and the brand with them
The year 2018 is coming, BQ is sold (51%) to a group called Vingroup of Vietnamese origin, this happened due to the losses generated since 2016. Here begins what we can call: "the path to the decline of BQ mobiles."
The company focused on the marketing of the mobile phones that had been launched to date. They offered support and development for third parties, the pandemic was an additional breaking point, especially for the relationship with the industry in Vietnam and associated markets.
Little by little progress was made until the year 2020, where a process of disintegration began. The website was no longer online, most of the employees were transferred to other allied companies, this being a slow and eternal process for many.
Come 2021, the news of the entry into bankruptcy proceedings was made public, with a debt that was around 41 million euros. This put an end to what was once Spain's greatest dream of competing with the big guys in the smartphone industry.
Many versions suggest that the big brands that we know today as Huawei o Sony, at the time, respected BQ's sales capabilities. Surely if you became a mobile consumer, you have a memory of the sales methods, prices and utilities of their mobile phones, while there were no serious problems to address.