Jio’s smartphone push not as big a threat as geopolitics to Chinese brands in India, say analysts
- In the first two quarters Chinese smartphone brands saw their market share in India fall from 81 per cent to 72 per cent, according to research firm Counterpoint
- Jio dominated the feature phone market in India last year but discontinued its own-brand smartphone in 2018
Indian tech giants are gearing up to take lost ground in a smartphone market dominated by Chinese vendors but analysts do not believe they will dethrone the likes of Xiaomi any time soon, with geopolitics remaining the more imminent threat for Chinese brands.
Jio Platforms, the Indian wireless operator and handset maker, is working with US chip maker Qualcomm to develop 5G solutions and accelerate network roll-out in the country, according to a joint statement by the two companies.
Jio’s 5G plans will not have a big impact on Chinese smartphone vendors in the country, according to Zaker Li, senior mobile analyst at Omdia. “Geopolitical tensions between India and China will have a bigger impact on the performance of Chinese smartphones brands in India,” he said.
In the first two quarters of the year Chinese smartphone brands saw their market share in India fall from 81 per cent to 72 per cent, according to Hong Kong-based research firm Counterpoint, which attributed the decline in part to anti-China sentiment.
In July Jio said it was teaming up with Google to make an affordable smartphone running custom versions of the Android operating system. Bloomberg reported last month that Jio had stepped up production to make 150 to 200 million smartphones over the next two years. Jio did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In comparison, Apple shipped 198 million iPhones worldwide last year and Chinese smartphone maker Huawei sold 240 million, according to data from Canalys.