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Around 350 million people still use a feature phone
India , the macrocosm ’s second - large smartphone securities industry after China with around750 million users , is clamber to get new smartphone purchaser , as the average somebody in the country regain it hard to open a brand - new smartphone .
or else of switching to a new smartphone , millions of Indian consumers prefer to remain with their be feature of speech earpiece or only promote to a Modern feature article earphone . The latter has resulted in increase in feature article telephone shipments in the land despite these telephone set being pretty old - fashioned and having just a fistful of lineament compared to smartphones , which help figure out most on - the - go computer science necessity for a typical buyer .
According to datum portion out by market psychoanalyst firm Counterpoint , characteristic phone cargo in India run into 10 % year - on - yr growth last year , up from -31 % in 2022 . This increment comes as existing feature of speech phone buyers resist from picking a new smartphone .
Of the entire feature film earphone market , 4 G feature telephone set lading in India grew to 25 % in 2023 from 9 % in 2022 . However , 2 G feature telephone still dominate the Indian grocery store , with a 75 % share , per Counterpoint .
Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio contribute the 4 G lineament phone market , with a share of 27 % , followed by Transsion Holdings - have Itel and Indian speech sound maker Lava at 24 % and 18 % , severally , according to Counterpoint . The telecom operator offers a range of models in the section along with consecrated duty architectural plan and entree to servicing digital overhaul , including the country ’s real - time payment system Unified Payments Interface and apps such as JioCinema , JioTV and WhatsApp to attract the passel .
However , Tarun Pathak , research music director for devices and ecosystems at Counterpoint , told TechCrunch that the 4 G feature of speech phones from Jio have blockade smartphone adoption in the country to a sealed extent “ as the consumers are now able to get canonic apps on feature phones themselves . ”
Jio eyeing a 5G feature phone to capitalize on the trend
Jio , thebiggest telecom player in Indiain footing of its contributor base and revenues , is quietly design a 5 G feature telephone set as brands face challenges in attracting first - sentence smartphone buyers in the South Asiatic market , TechCrunch has only learned .
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The telecom operator owned by the Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries has been selling feature article telephone for year and graduallymoved to smartphones with Googlein 2021 . But its first smartphone was too pricey for its mediocre specifications and did not help move the needle . Now Jio find out feature phones as the unattackable arm it has to get phones into as many custody in India as potential .
Jio ’s 5 gee feature film phone will bleed Linux - based software KaiOS , which already power the telco ’s existing feature phone chain of mountains . Contract manufacturer Dixon Technologies and NeoLync are currently prototyping the handset , sources say .
The sound would be announced at Reliance ’s extroverted annual general meeting , which is expected in August , though it is not probable to be ready for the mass market place anytime soon , consort to the sources . The phone ’s pricing is also among the questions that Jio is yet to ascertain .
informant familiar with the matter told TechCrunch that the Mumbai - free-base telco is in initial talks with Qualcomm for the other version of its 5 yard feature phone . However , other chipmakers may be take in the final gadget , as the discussion are still on its exploitation .
Qualcomm deny its participation in discussions with Jio when TechCrunch reached out this week . A Reliance Industries spokesperson declined to comment .
Alongside the new 5 g-force feature film phone , Jio be after to found its 5 G Android tablet and a 5 G smartphone this class , two people familiar with the telco ’s plans told TechCrunch .
Dixon Technologies and NeoLync did not respond to requests for comment .
Until now , Jio has a 4 G stemma of devices , which admit theJioPhone Nextas its first Android smartphone . The telco , however , is looking to upgrade its portfolio to 5 grand equipment , as it aims to extend its telecommunication revenues and is work out on monetizing 5 G connectivity . Jio , along with rival Airtel and Vi , of late hiked tariffsin the commonwealth to boost their subscription revenues . The hustler is alsoexpected to spin off from Relianceand list as a public companionship on Amerindic stock exchanges at a valuation of $ 112 billion as ahead of time as next twelvemonth .
Jio’s feature phone journey so far
In August 2017 , Jio unveiled its first 4 G feature of speech telephone , JioPhone , free-base on KaiOS . before long after its launch , the JioPhonebecame the country ’s top - selling lineament speech sound . The candybar headphone also later received reinforcement for popular apps , including Facebook , WhatsApp and YouTube to enlarge usage .
In 2018 , Jio introduced the next - generation feature of speech earphone with a QWERTY keyboard . However , theJioPhone 2could not repeat the achiever of the JioPhone due to its limited availability and entreaty .
Last year , the telcointroduced the Jio Bharatas a $ 12 feature speech sound series to repair its presence in the feature phone marketplace . It also update the original JioPhone with a brass - elevation call theJioPhone Prima . The launch of the new models helped grow the market of 4 G feature phones in India .
Why are millions of Indians not buying new smartphones?
India ’s smartphone marketsaw over 11 % class - on - class growthin the first fourth , the third consecutive stern of growth in shipments , with 34 million smartphones shipped during the poop , harmonise to IDC . However , unlike the budget price section ( between sub-$100 and $ 200 ) , the super - premium segment ( over $ 800 ) saw the high 44 % growth , seeing an increment in its part to 7 % . It was dominated by the tardy and last - contemporaries iPhone models followed by the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S23 families .
Nonetheless , the share of the entranceway - level section ( sub-$100 ) in the Indian smartphone market declined by 14 % year - on - twelvemonth to 15 % , down from 20 % a year ago , per IDC . It used to be 26 % of the overall smartphone food market in 2020 and 20 % in 2021 .
Market expert believe that the elemental cause for the astute decline in entry - level smartphone shipments is the hesitation of feature of speech speech sound users to switch to low-priced smartphones .
Navkendar Singh , associate frailty president for equipment enquiry at IDC , told TechCrunch that around 350 million the great unwashed in India still use a characteristic phone , and 50 % of them have a modeling that ’s less than $ 18 . “ Because they ’re not able to corrupt a smartphone , they ’re replacing their characteristic sound , ” he say .
Singh also notice that India ’s smartphone penetration is less than 50 % , and it persist unchanged for the last couple of years , though the market see some growth in smartphone shipments after the COVID pandemic .
“ The conversion from lineament phones to smartphones is not easy for some consumer , ” said Counterpoint ’s Pathak , adding that old the great unwashed and masses in low - income chemical group and blue - collar jobs are not kick upstairs to smartphones in the country .
“ The pricing difference between smartphones and feature speech sound is still wide enough to limit user to flip to smartphones well , ” he say .
allot to IDC , a smartphone ’s modal selling price ( ASP ) in India is $ 255 . It arise over 54 % from $ 165 in 2020 . The smartphone ASP in India is just around 31 % compare to the $ 826 in the U.S.
Still , 1000000 of masses find it unvoiced to buy a smartphone in India due to their low disposable income .
“ While India has one of the tatty smartphones in the world , as a percentage of users ’ income , it is less affordable than even in the U.S. and U.K. , ” harmonise to a write up titledThe State of India ’s Digital Economyby the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations and Prosus .
Smartphone brands offer finance options to pull in buyers . However , Singh recite TechCrunch that the move has so far helped only existing smartphone consumer kick upstairs their example .
