Chinese Phone Makers to Make Inroads in India

For Chinese smartphone makers, their most important smartphone market may no longer be China itself. For years, new smartphones have been purchased by hundreds of millions of Chinese and they managed to give the fortune of local smartphone makers a huge boost in this way, ranging from the renowned Lenovo and Huawei and to the likes of Gionee and Coolpad. However, research firm IDC has said that this era of rapid growth may be coming to a close in China. Their data indicated that there was a 4% decline in sales in the first quarter as compared to a year earlier. 

This is the first contraction to have occurred in the last six years. According to IDC, it doesn't expect to see any growth in the smartphone market in China in this year. As per their data, more than 800 million individuals use smartphones in China, which has become quite saturated so there will be a lesser number of buyers because there will be less spending due to a slowing down economy. Therefore, Chinese companies have changed their direction and are now aiming towards India in order to take advantage of a market that’s worth $14.5 billion and on the rise. 

Varun Sharma, the chief executive of Coolpad’s India operations said that India comes first. He said that the Shenzhen-based firm is planning to utilize its patents and manufacture infrastructure that could be used for selling devices at price points of $100 for the Indian market instead of the $800 and $1000 price points, which are being used by global brands in the market. The smartphone sales in India are only a fraction of those in China. However, India is indeed one of the fastest-growing smartphone markets in the world, which means there are hundreds of millions of potential buyers. 

According to Guy Galboiz from HighTechWebNews, India can actually indicate if it is possible for the Chinese hardware companies to grow outside the borders of their own country. There is intense competition in the Indian market as there are more than 150 brands. There are several indigenous companies that fall under the category of the best-selling brands and they have an inside track on the local phone habits of people. Samsung is also one of the top-sellers and it has a lot of experience under the belt when it comes to selling devices in different cultures. The most successful Chinese company in the Indian market is Xiaomi, but only had 4% market share in the fourth quarter.

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that India is the only country that has a similar scale as China. This year, it is expected that 11 million smartphones will be purchased by Indians and about 149 million in the next year. Also, China’s smartphone makers have said that there is a lot of common ground between Indians and Chinese; they are obsessed with arcane specs and features and also show a sensitivity to cost. A lot of Chinese firms are also attempting to sell directly to Indian customers online.