The Clash Of Handset Titans

The gloves are off. The time is ripe. The top-selling handset makers are battling it out to reach the No. 1 slot in India’s smartphone market.

- Bhragu Haritas & Avishek Banerjee

EARLY TWO DECADES AGO, Nokia invaded the fledgling Indian mobile market with a plethora of feature phones at attractive price points. Half a decade later, Nokia had a monopoly in the market as its products struck a chord with the masses and the classes. However, the Finnish telecom major’s dominance was short-lived as Samsung, which came out with its affordable feature phones and nextgen android smartphones, stormed the handset market. The game, it seems, is being played out again. Over the last few quarters, Samsung is finding it difficult to hold on to its lead, as Xiaomi, a five-year Chinese startup, has hit the sweet spot in the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market by offering best deals at cost-sensitive price bands.

India being a cost-sensitive market, Xiaomi, through its online-only sales, has lured consumers with its spec-heavy handsets. Moreover, the company’s strategy of online flash sales with limited stocks on offer and a strong presence on social media has certainly helped them grow significantly in India. But online flash sales also hampers their potential customers as black marketers hoard handsets and customers have to wait for the next sale.

This goes to show that Xiaomi, too, suffers from vulnerabilities and there are other brands upping their ante to beat competition. For instance, brands like Realme and Honor that offer similar phones at reasonable prices have also climbed the popularity charts and posing a threat to the business model of Xiaomi.

So will it be a smooth sail for Xiaomi? Industry analysts do not seem to think so. Globally, there are around 1,000 companies that make smartphones. However, just one company, that is Apple, makes 92 per cent of the industry’s profits even though it sells less than 20 per cent of the overall handsets.