Neil Ghai

2/2 In conclusion: When component inflation breaks legacy volume dominance, domestic manufacturing gets its real stress-test. @Apple @SamsungMobile By @GhaiNeil @EconomicTimes

Record chip costs. ✅️ Wafer-thin margins. ✅️ Chinese mobile brands retreat to an 8-year low. ⏬️ How domestic players secured a beachhead opportunity to recapture India's sub-₹20,000 smartphone battleground: 📲🇮🇳 • The Macro Chill: Total Indian smartphone shipments plunged 20–26% YoY in Q3 to a decade-low of 35.8 million units (Counterpoint / Omdia). Surging memory chip prices drove up device costs, forcing price-sensitive consumers to defer upgrades. • The Chinese Retreat: Squeezed by wafer-thin margins on entry-level models, Chinese OEMs (Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi) cut budget portfolios and trimmed specs, retreating upmarket to mid and premium tiers to protect profitability. Their combined share dropped to 67–68%, down from an 80% peak in 2020 and the lowest since 2019. • Domestic Makers Surge to 7%: While Chinese brands pulled back from sub-₹20,000 price bands, domestic brands stepped in to prioritize volume. Indian brands surged from 2% a year ago to 7% in Q3—their highest share since Q4 2018. • The Local Challenger Playbook: Ai+ (shipments up >4x YoY) and Lava drove nearly 95% of domestic volume, joined by new entrants like Mivi and Boltt. Meanwhile, global premium giants Apple and Samsung captured the high-end flight to quality. • The Strategic Imperative: Memory cost cycles have cracked open the door, but sustaining this beachhead beyond the festive season requires domestic players to build out long-term product durability and resilient after-sales networks. @GoI_MeitY @makeinindia @LavaMobile @CounterPointTR Via @EconomicTimes #Smartphones #MakeInIndia #Semiconductors #ElectronicsManufacturing #SupplyChain Article cont'd...👇