The Indian smartphone market is witnessing a rapid shift with a flood of Chinese Smartphone brands including Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo etc. The dominance of these brands in a price sensitive market like India comes with their unique USP of offering premium grade features at an unmatched pricing.
And while consumers are rejoicing the frequent launches by the Chinese players, its the Indian smartphone manufacturers like Micromax, Karbonn Mobiles, Lava etc. who have taken the hardest hit. With dwindling sales and absolutely zero innovation, the homegrown vendors are on the brink of a shutdown.
India Technology News spoke to veteran industry experts to dive deep into the existing trends in India’s smartphone segment and to explore the possible solutions for the resurrection of the domestic smartphone manufacturers.
”You need to have control over core technology and supply chain and Chinese players have an edge at both domains. Good control over core product capabilities enables them to embed . Since they also have proximity to the ecosystem, this helps them to get the product manufactured in large volumes and enjoy the economy,” says Faisal Kausa. Founder of research firm tech Arch.
So what is the possible solution for Indian smartphone vendors to bounce back in the ”almost lost” war?
”First off, the Indian handset manufacturers will have to reorient from a trading mindset to a technology mindset. They need to come together in the form of a ppp initiative, wherein these companies and the government could come together and create a manufacturing hub. Thus manufacturing hub should have all the core components including a design centre, testing facilities, supply chain ecosystem.” adds Kausa.
”Since almost all of the major Indian smartphone brands utilise similar suppliers, they could procure in bulk and at a discounted price,” said Kausa.
As Chinese companies raced to expand their market presence and launched new features, Indian companies were sluggish to focus on R&D and introduce features like dual camera setup, fingerprint sensor, better displays etc.
Rimit Singh
