The smartphone market has been doing quite well but since the pandemic, it has been uncertain. Looking at the current situation in India, smartphone manufacturers are beginning to reduce their expectations. According to a recent report, many Chinese manufacturers have lowered their expected shipments. The likes of Xiaomi, Honor, Realme, OnePlus, and others have reduced their shipments.
The report claims that Xiaomi lowered its annual shipment target for this year from 240 million units to 190 million units. This represents a 25% reduction. Honor has revised its shipments from 50 million units to 35 million units, a 30% reduction.
In addition, Realme changed its shipment target for this year from 85 million units to 60 million units, a reduction of 29%. OnePlus lowered its shipment target from 20 million units to 12 million units, a range of up to 40%.
There are reports from the supply chain that the reduction is basically in 4G smartphones. The current pandemic situation in India is so intense that people are not thinking about smartphones right now. In addition, 5G will soon kick off in India. Thus, OEMs prefer to release 5G compatible smartphones even before the network arrives.
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India has been banning a lot of Chinese technologies lately
Since last year, there has been a clampdown on Chinese technologies in India. Huawei is one of the first companies to be hit with the hammer. Of course, the Chinese 5G giant can not participate in India’s 5G construction. In addition, we have also witnessed the ban of hundreds of Chinese apps including popular apps like Tencent (PUBG Mobile) and TikTok. The latest of these is India’s government’s refusal to give approval to WiFi devices from China.
This ban (or suspension of approvals) has delayed popular companies for several months. It affects big companies like Dell, HP, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Lenovo. In fact, all companies that use WiFi modules from China can not ship their products to India presently. According to sources, India postponed the import of finished electronic equipment from China that contains WiFi modules. These WiFi devices include Bluetooth speakers, wireless headsets, smartphones, smartwatches, and laptops.
Presently, there are almost a hundred applications from American, Chinese, and Korean companies waiting for approval. Even some Indian companies are waiting for WPC’s approval to import some finished products from China. However, there is no official comment from these companies (Dell, HP, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Lenovo).
Whether or not these numerous bans are for the benefit of the majority of Indians remains to be seen.
