iPhone maker Apple led India market with highest revenue in 2023 for the first time while Samsung topped the chart in terms of sales volume, market research firm Counterpoint Research said on Wednesday. While India's smartphone shipments remained flat in 2023 at 152 million units, Samsung and Chinese mobile phone makers Vivo and Oppo were able to grow their shares, according to Counterpoint's Monthly India Smartphone Tracker report. "Apple's focus on India is also aiding the trend, with the brand surpassing the 10-million-unit mark in shipments and capturing the top position in revenue in a calendar year for the first time, propelled by robust demand for both its latest and older iPhones.
The onslaught of Chinese mobile brands is virtually obliterating Indian brands, especially in terms of value. According to industry estimates based on excise and Custom duty trends, the value share of Indian brands (across smartphones and feature phones, operator phone sales - which is mostly Jio phones - and the value of phones smuggled into the country) has dropped to a mere 1.2 per cent in January-October 2021 compared to 25.4 per cent in the calendar year 2015. In the same period, the Chinese have established their domination, hitting a value share of 64.5 per cent, up from 17.8 per cent.
Come July, mobile phone prices are expected to be dearer by up to 10 per cent due to the steep depreciation in the value of rupee against dollar.
Samsung makes the largest number of non-4G feature phones in India
Tech giant Apple has launched the 8GB version of its iPhone 5C in India for Rs 37,500, a move aimed at capturing a larger share of the burgeoning smartphone market in India.
The government gave clearance to five global and five Indian players that have made a commitment to a production value of 12.5-trillion phones in five years under the Production Linked Incentive scheme.
A very solid start from Lava and Intel, but what we are really waiting for is a real 'I want this device'.
A court in New Delhi on Friday extended by three days the ED custody of four people arrested in a money laundering case against Chinese smart phone maker Vivo, including the managing director of Lava International mobile company and a Chinese national. The four accused were produced before Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala on completion of their three-day ED custody. On Friday, the agency moved four separate applications seeking extension of their custody by 10 days but the court granted it only three more days for custodial interrogation of the accused.
Samsung may be the leader in the burgeoning Indian mobile market.
Carbonated soft drinks, bottled water and mobile handsets could become costlier soon.
At least two of them - Lava and Micromax - are arming themselves against the Chinese rivals which made them insignificant in the local market over the past few years.
Google Inc on Monday launched the first smartphones powered by its Android One operating system in India, pricing them at around Rs 6,399 ($105) to capture the low-cost segment of the world's fastest growing smartphone market.
Samsung recently introduced its "S bike" mode, a feature targeted at India's legions of motorbike riders that, when activated, notifies callers that the phone's owner is riding and cannot answer
The government will set up expert groups to explore the adoption of common chargers for mobile and all portable electronic devices, and submit a detailed report in two months, Consumer Affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said. The department of consumer affairs on Wednesday called a meeting with industry stakeholders. After the meeting, Singh said India can initially think of exploring shifting to two types of chargers, including a C-Type port.
The government is busy strategising ways to revive the domestic mobile device industry as Chinese firms have grabbed a large chunk of the handset market. The idea is to minimise competition from Chinese mobile players in the entry level or sub-Rs 10,000 category, according to a senior government official familiar with the plans. While discussions on the strategy are on, there's a growing consensus within the government that the lower end of the market should be reserved only for the domestic players, the official said.
Sukanya Verma remembers the Boss in 30 of his underrated, overlooked gems in Hindi film music.
'Indian entrepreneurs became traders for Chinese goods rather than producers of goods.'
Don't view the mobile phone or tablet as a shut-up toy while a parent is busy, highlights Dr Aarti Bakshi.
Google, in its latest appeal to the Supreme Court, has said the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is protecting Amazon's interests after having complained that India's anti-competition body (CCI) had copied part of a European Commission ruling against it for allegedly abusing the market dominance of Android. The latest twist to the Google-CCI case comes as Google filed an appeal in the Supreme Court on June 26, against the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's (NCLAT's) March 29 order. The tech giant's contention is that the NCLAT failed to apply the "effect analysis" part in the CCI order.
The government has asked industry to provide a list of Chinese suppliers that would like to shift some capacity to India provided they are willing to set up JVs with Indian companies.
The new mantra was to align Apple's ambition with the government's, focusing on Modi's favourite themes of Make in India, employment generation and India as a high-tech export hub.
Shipment of 5G smartphones in the country continues to gain traction and such devices accounted for 22 per cent market share in the third quarter of 2021, according to CMR. As per CMR's India Mobile Handset Market Review Report for Q3 2021, more than 20 5G-capable smartphones were launched over the course of the quarter.
The company will launch Google Android One phones priced at Rs 6,000-7,000 by September-end.
The Xolo Black from Lava is indeed a well rounded mobile phone. However, the recent price cuts offered by Lenovo for Moto E and Moto G (second generation), Xolo Black can only find a firm footing if it came with some swift price cuts.
Read this to know which smartphone is better...
Apple Inc's leading contract manufacturer, Taiwanese giant Wistron, has exceeded its investment obligation in India in just eight months, although the government's production-linked investment (PLI) scheme allowed it to complete the investment in four years. Between August 2020 and end March 2021, Wistron made an investment of Rs 1255 crore - 25 per cent more than the total investment it had committed to the government. Under the PLI scheme for mobile devices, the government had stipulated that each of the five participating global companies needed to invest Rs 250 crore every year for the first four years, totalling Rs 1,000 crore.
As many as 37 per cent of smartphones sold in India in 2022 cost Rs 15,000 or more.
To cash in on the festive season, mobile handset makers like Apple, HTC, Karbonn and Lava have launched a series of smartphones in the price range starting from Rs 5,000 to Rs 59,500 for Indian consumers.
While the 'Made in China' tag continues to be dominant as far as handsets in India go, things are beginning to change.
India is the world's third largest smartphone market.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to make this decade a "techade" for India and the push for 5G, semiconductors and transformation through digital services is going to boost the technology sector in the country, industry players said on Monday. Modi, in his speech on the 76th Independence Day, touched upon all-round development of technology in the country, from 5G to push for electronic chips, laying of optical fibre cable (OFC) network across villages and enablement of digital entrepreneurship in villages through Common Services Centres, making the present decade as "techade" for India. Homegrown mobile devices maker Lava International's Chairman and Managing Director Hari Om Rai said electronics and technology sectors create about $4 trillion of revenue.
The Indian mobile handset market saw a drop of 5 per cent in revenues in FY 2011-12.
Are they worth Rs 8,499? Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com finds out.
Apple's iconic iPad2 and Samsung's Galaxy Tab are set to face a local challenge.
In a first, the India's smartphone market fell by 4%.
The price range of these mobile phones is between Rs 1,750 and Rs 7,000. After Bharti, others have followed the cue. Tata Indicom recently announced a QWERTY phone, which is a co-branded product with Alcatel.
India continues to be the fastest growing smartphone market in the Asia Pacific region.
Samsung has been facing competition from local mobile handset makers like Micromax, Lava and Karbonn but it has maintained its lead in smartphones.
Companies are playing the price game to woo customers.
