WHAT'S IN ANAME

MANY LEADING CHINESE SMARTPHONE MAKERS IN THE INDIAN MARKET HAVE LAUNCHED SUB-BRANDS OR SECOND BRANDS TO APPEAL TO NEWER DEMOGRAPHICS. WHAT LIES AHEAD?

- NIDHI SINGAL & ABHIK SEN

DURING A RECENT visit to Delhi, 17-year-old Sunny Vohra from Punjab’s Guru Har Sahai in Ferozepur district, was fascinated by the smartphones his cousins were gaming on. Once back home, he couldn’t find the brand in any store; calling up stores in Chandigarh—nearly 230 km away—didn’t help. Finally, he called up his Delhi-based cousin to find out where to buy the phone. His cousin shared a few links; Vohra went online, and a slew of brands on e-commerce platforms—some of which he had never heard of—serenaded him with options. While he had been searching for a POCO phone, he bought one from iQOO, a brand he hadn’t heard of earlier, based on the positive reviews on the platform. The phone arrived, he unboxed it and found a charger with the vivo branding. That’s when he realised iQOO was from the familiar Chinese company’s stable. And many of his friends use vivo phones, which have responsive after-sales service.

Chinese smartphone firms have been wooing the Indian consumer for quite some time. Now, they have upped their game by launching phones packed with features like never before, but with separate branding, and at prices lesser than the bigger brands. You want a camera phone? I got one. You want one for gaming? I got one. You want long battery life? I got one. And customers are lapping them up. According to data from Counterpoint Research, second brands have steadily grown their market share in the past few years. In fact, realme—a brand from the OPPO stable—has surpassed the market share of the mother brand.

WOOING CUSTOMERS