by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Large Enterprise, Marketing Basics, Markets, Technology
By Krishna SinhaChaudhury,
New Delhi : With dual-camera phones fast gaining popularity in the cut-throat Indian smartphone market, ASUS recently introduced three smartphones in its Zenfone 4 selfie series in the country.
The Taiwanese company introduced a total of six smartphones — Zenfone 4, Zenfone 4 Pro, Zenfone 4 Max, Zenfone 4 Max Pro and Zenfone 4 Selfie (two variants) — in Taipei but brought only three selfie-centric devices to India.
We received Rs 14,999 Zenfone 4 Selfie (Dual-Camera) and here is what we think of it.
At 144 grams, the smartphone is impressively light and easy to operate with one hand.
It sports a unibody design with metallic finish with stripes at the top and bottom ends that give it an attractive look.
We especially liked the design language used around the camera lens that reminded us of ASUS’ trademark concentric circle design.
The 5.5-inch HD LCD display topped with 2.5D curved glass blends well with the chassis. The display is bright with decent viewing angles.
Above the display lies the LED flash, dual-camera set-up, earpiece and the proximity sensor.
The fingerprint sensor sits below the display which was pretty quick to unlock the device.
The selfie shooter of the device has a 20MP sensor (aperture of f/2.0) and an 8MP secondary sensor (aperture of f/2.4) that lets the user click decent selfies — a high point of Zenfone 4 Selfie (Dual Camera) smartphone.
The user can also select the portrait mode that adds “Bokeh” effect to the selfies.
In our opinion, the selfies taken in standard mode fared better than the wide-angle selfies.
The front shooter also features “Live Beautification” mode that lets the user add artificial beautification to their image from level 1 to 10.
The 16MP rear camera takes good images and close-up shots in proper lighting had enough detail.
The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset coupled with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage that ensures smooth everyday performance.
The device runs its custom Zen UI based atop Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system (OS).
ASUS has not bundled unnecessary pre-installed apps in the smartphone, which is a welcome change.
The 3,000mAh battery lasted a little more than 12 hours on moderate usage with 4G running on one SIM slot, on a single charge.
What does not work?
The Snapdragon 430 processor does its job well in keeping the smartphone cool and gets daily tasks done, but considering the price, we would have loved to see a Snapdragon 625 chipset in this one.
Photos taken in low-light conditions had much noise.
The sunlight legibility of the display could have been better.
Conclusion: With decent overall performance, Zenfone 4 Selfie (Dual Camera) smartphone is a competent attempt by ASUS to make a mark in the selfie smartphone race in this price range.
(Krishna SinhaChaudhury can be contacted at krishna.s@ians.in )
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Economy, Large Enterprise, Markets, Medium Enterprise, News, SMEs
(Note Ban Series)
By Nishant Arora,
New Delhi : The first three quarters of 2016 were going just great and smartphone players had raked in super profits right up to Diwali — then demonetisation caught them by surprise, as it did others.
The note ban hit manufacturers across the spectrum — especially domestic handset makers who primarily rely on cash sales in smaller cities and towns.
The subsequent cash crunch resulted in smartphone sales falling by 30.5 per cent (month-on-month) in November over the October festive season.
According to global market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), Indian vendors were affected the most — with a drop of 37.2 per cent in November — as compared to Chinese players with a 26.5 per cent drop and global vendors with 30.5 per cent drop over the previous month.
When contacted by IANS, Indian vendors Micromax and Intex declined to comment.
“Demonetisation impacted the smartphone market at almost all levels, including the customer demand and stock movement in the distribution channels,” said Upasana Joshi, Senior Market Analyst, IDC India.
In the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2016, smartphone shipments clocked 25.8 million units — registering similar volume as that of 2015 but declining sharply by 20.3 per cent over the previous quarter owing to demonetisation, which led to relatively lower consumer sales in November and December.
According to the data provided by CyberMedia Research (CMR) to IANS, the smartphone shipment to India was 10 million units in October last year which shrank to 9.2 million units in November and then, slightly improved to 9.6 million units in December.
The slowdown was seen across all cities. There was a huge drop in inquiries and significantly reduced footfall at retail shops. To counter this, handset retailers started offering zero down payment options to improve sales.
To overcome the impact, smartphone players with huge online presence started offering EMI and easy payment options to keep the sales going.
Amid all this, China-based vendors’ market share improved sequentially owing to their high decibel marketing, increased credit line to distributors and efficient channel management.
The sales, however, picked up in 2017 and smartphone players heaved a sign of relief as the cash flow got better.
“In the first quarter of this year, the smartphone shipment was 26.5 million units while in the second quarter, it was 28.4 million units,” Prabhu Ram, General Manager, Industry Intelligence Group (IIG) at CMR, told IANS.
Local brands like Micromax and Lava grew 41 per cent and 24 per cent (QoQ) in the smartphone segment in the third quarter this year, respectively, recovering from their all-time low during demonetisation last year.
Global vendors, led by Samsung, were able to withstand the aggressive Chinese players post-demonetisation owing to their good distributor coverage and penetration in the Indian market.
“The overall industry sentiments were pulled down after note ban, having an impact on smartphones as well. People had tightened their fists and spending was at its lowest ebb,” Faisal Kawoosa, Principal Analyst, Telecom and ESDM, CyberMedia Research (CMR), told IANS.
The industry proactively adjusted the smartphone shipment, scaled down advertising and marketing to the lowest possible levels and resorted to a “wait and watch” policy.
“As soon as the market momentum regained, they flooded the market with new offerings, advertising, marketing as well as promotions that synced up very well with the festive season. And thus we saw a strong comeback,” Kawoosa added.
But the impact of demonetisation will be felt when 2017 comes to a close.
According to the market research firm Gartner, there will be a two per cent drop in the Indian government’s IT spending this year owing to demonetisation and a drop in industrial production.
The government is forecast to spend $7.8 billion on IT in 2017 — a 7.5 percent increase from 2016. This is, however, down from Gartner’s projection of 9.5 percent growth this year.
“The two percent revision in our outlook is primarily due to the effects of demonetisation and a drop in industrial production,” Moutusi Sau, principal research analyst at Gartner, said in a statement recently.
(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
By Nishant Arora,
New Delhi : Having dominated the Indian smartphone market for years, Samsung will focus on fundamentals like making devices across price segments in 2018 and leverage its R&D work to achieve that goal, a top India executive has reiterated.
Samsung had 47 per cent market share (by value) in the country in September and 65.4 per cent (by value) for the third quarter (premium segment) this year, according to German research firm GfK which tracks sales to end-consumers.
According to Asim Warsi, Senior Vice President, Product Planning and Marketing, Samsung India, the thrust next year will be on making devices that match consumers’ changing requirements.
“We have been leading and consolidating our position in India continuously for several years. Our gains have come from certain core fundamentals of doing business that we always adhere to and will double down on those fundamentals going forward,” Warsi told IANS in a free-wheeling chat here.
“We will continue to invest more and the thrust will be to make phones and other devices customised for Indian conditions…that deliver greater customer satisfaction. We will also leverage our full R&D potential in the months to come,” Warsi stressed.
Next on his to-do list is further improvement in Samsung’s after-sales service network.
“We have the largest after-sales service network in India to reach out to people anywhere, even in the hinterland. Innovation is paramount and you will see lots of new innovations and things customised for the Indian market next year,” informed Warsi, who has been at the helm at Samsung for over 12 years.
Samsung has had a great first half with Galaxy S8 and S8+ devices in India.
“We launched the all-new Samsung Pay service this year, unveiled successful models like Galaxy C9 and C7, Galaxy J7 Max and J7 Pro and ultimately Galaxy Note 8, that is doing great in the hot premium segment,” Warsi told IANS.
According to him, India is offering double-digit growth for all phone categories — led by smartphones.
“I don’t say that feature phones are going to go away, but smartphones will bring more growth; be it in the Rs-10,000 mass segment, the Rs 20,000-30,000 high-end segment or above Rs 30,000 premium category,” Warsi noted.
Camera continues to be a highlight but, said Warsi, services like entertainment and utility (My Galaxy), UPI-based mobile payment ecosystem (Samsung Pay) and AI-based features (digital assistant Bixby) and Internet of Things (IoT) will continue to enhance consumer experience.
Refuting reports that Samsung’s market share has slipped in India, Warsi said: “German research firm GfK reports final consumption which is the most important measure of market share. Shipments are important but they don’t tell the final market share. The real share is what I sold out to my customers and here, we are pretty strong.”
“Our supply chain is very efficient and lean till the retailers’ end. We don’t do big imports, ship and create massive inventories. We pulse the supply chain system basis the changing demand and the seasons in India,” Warsi explained.
The South Korean giant recently announced that it would invest Rs 4,915 crore in expanding its Noida manufacturing plant.
The expansion will double its production capacity of both mobile phones and consumer electronics, further consolidating the firm’s leadership in these segments.
Samsung’s Noida plant was one of the first electronics manufacturing facilities set up in the country in the early 1990s. The plant started with televisions in 1997. The current mobile phone manufacturing unit was added in 2005.
Samsung has two manufacturing plants — in Noida and in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu — five R&D centres (the biggest is in Bengaluru — which is also the largest outside South Korea), and one design centre in Noida, employing over 70,000 people and expanding its network to over 1.5 lakh retail outlets.
“The Indian smartphone market is very encouraging and will keep growing in double digits. Wait for some industry-disrupting features soon from us,” Warsi said.
(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Emerging Businesses, Markets, Sales
New Delhi : Chinese smartphone maker COMIO, which entered the Indian smartphone market last month, on Friday said it has sold 20,000 handsets in two weeks.
COMIO’s three smartphones — P1, S1 and C1 — went on sale through retail stores in north India and online platforms, starting September 5.
“We are delighted to have received an overwhelming response for our smartphones in such a short span of time. This has encouraged us to keep moving towards our aim of becoming leaders in the mid-segment category,” said Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, CEO and Director, COMIO India, in a statement.
Meanwhile, 65,000 devices have been handed to distributors, the company claimed.
COMIO S1 sports a metal unibody design with 5.2-inch HD IPS display and a fingerprint sensor. It also features a 13MP rear camera, 8MP selfie shooter and 2,700mAh battery.
P1 smartphone has a massive 5,000mAh battery and comes in a metal body with a dual-SIM phone offering, 5.5-inch HD IPS display screen, fingerprint sensor. It features a 13MP rear camera and 8MP selfie shooter with screen flash.
COMIO C1 sports a metal frame and 5-inch HD IPS display. It features 8MP rear camera with 5MP front shooter.
All the three smartphones run on a Quad-core 64 bit Mediatek chipset, with 32GB internal memory and are 4G VoLTE enabled.
—IANS
