From hero to zero, before you knew what hit you. In the cut-throat world of smartphones, it has been a recurring story—from Nokia dominating the scene at one time to going ‘crash-boom-bang’, to BlackBerry’s transition from everybody’s buddy to a nobody.
Chinese phone maker Xiaomi would truly understand it. A decade ago, it stole the thunder of desi smartphone brands like Micromax and Lava with a slew of inexpensive but feature-rich smartphones through brands like Redmi, Mi and the sub-brand Poco. It soon became the largest seller of mobile phones in the country. Even the Covid-19 pandemic and the anti-China sentiment post the clashes in Ladakh did not slow it down. But then it got hit by a curious shift in the Indian consumers’ preferences.
About a year ago or so, more and more Indians began coveting premium phones, moving away from Xiaomi’s budget offerings. With the market share of phones costing less than ₹10,000 falling significantly, Samsung overtook Xiaomi as India’s top-selling phone brand.
Premium smartphones sales more than doubled in the April-June period, while sales of the ultra-premium foldable phones tripled last year. This is when the overall smartphone market declined 3 per cent.
This new trend could solidify now, as Diwali sales hit a crescendo. “Many people time their purchases with the festive season, and they are increasingly opting for premium smartphones,” Arushi Chawla, senior analyst with Counterpoint Research wrote in a blogpost.
Denne historien er fra November 05, 2023-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
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Denne historien er fra November 05, 2023-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI
