This panel discussion focused on how the smartphone segment fared in 2023 and how it is expected to perform in 2024, the latest technology and trends and expected innovations, how the customer preferences are changing and challenges, and their impact on demand and sales.
Moderator: Mr. Sukanta Dey, a B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA (Finance & Marketing) from IIM Kolkata, is an IT Industry Veteran. The panelists included: Mr. Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India Technology Pvt Ltd; Mr. Vikas Jain, Co-Founder & CEO, Play (the brand of V-One Ventures Pvt Ltd); Mr. Sree Hari, Associate Director of Product, HTech; Mr. Aneef Tas, CEO, Endefo (the brand of Rascotec Communications Pvt Ltd); Mr. Manu Seth, International Business Leader, Chairman – ASSOCHAM (JEDC) & Mobility Industry Expert; Mr. Rajesh Khurana, Country Head – Consumer Business – South Asia and Africa, BIWIN Technology LLC; and Mr. Vivek Gupta, CEO & Co-Founder, ServeXplus India Pvt Ltd.
Today, over 700 million Indians have some sort of smart device with internet connections, and several smart phone owners also have a couple of mobility accessories to enhance their experience. The ownership of the smart devices is growing at a rate of 10% a year. Nowadays, the mobile and handheld computers have become necessities. Ms. Shilpi Jain, Senior Analyst from Counterpoint Research, had shared with us the latest figures and trends in the smartphones and wearables segment. A team of expert panelists, who are technocrats and experts in the mobility industry, shared their views on the latest technologies and market trends.
PANELIST: Mr. Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India Technology Pvt Ltd
Chipset is the heart and brain of smart devices. MediaTek has been designing and providing chipsets for various devices including smartphones, smart TVs, routers, speakers, etc at global level. The main feature of our flagship products, the Dimensity 9300 series chipsets, is their ability to handle generative AI applications in the most efficient manner. In 2023, we have recorded revenue of USD 1 billion at global level just from this series. We also have a broad range of other chipsets for wide range of devices, as a part of our mission to democratize the technology. Nowadays, 5G, which has been limited to cities so far, is spreading to rural areas, is playing a big role in ensuring higher speeds and seamless connectivity. This trend is expected to continue and MediaTek is prepared and forward-looking to provide the future-ready chipsets.
MARKET ROUND-UP of the smartphone and accessories industry by Ms. Shilpi Jain, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research.
Today, smartphone has become the most basic and essential device for most people. In 2024, India’s smartphone market is expected to grow faster (at 5%), driven by the increasing penetration into the rural areas. The sales of smartphones in the premium and ultra-premium smartphone segments (over Rs. 30k) are expected to grow significantly in 2024, driven by the availability of a variety of financing schemes. The proportion of online sales of smart devices has stabilized at 20%. The offline channels are set to see a significant growth, as buyers of premium and costly phones want to touch and feel at offline stores. The 5G penetration is expected to reach 70% by the end of 2024 from the current 50%. Domestic manufacturing in India is expected to reach 25% by the end of 2024. All these factors are expected to offer humongous opportunities to different players in the smartphone segment.
PANELIST: Mr. Vikas Jain, Co-Founder & CEO, Play (the brand of V-One Ventures Pvt Ltd)
Today, most of the smartphone users also use several wearables and accessories. The users want more functionalities and features along with fashionable devices that fit into their lifestyles. At present, 5G is yet to cover many rural areas. Today, smart wearables are becoming standalone devices, performing several other activities too, like calling, listening to music, etc which were earlier performed only by smartphones. Sensor-based features are becoming more common in the smart devices. Nowadays, users also want more advanced medical features on their smart watches and smart bands. This trend also demands that the upcoming wearables have more battery power and 5G-enabled higher speeds of data transfer, minimized interruptions and better experience.
PANELIST: Mr. Sree Hari, Associate Director of Product, HTech
Nowadays, a lot of innovations are coming up that make best us of 5G to offer users better experience. The increasing use of IoT devices like smart watches and audio products need much higher battery power to make the devices more usable. In the future, the devices with higher battery power and better battery technology will be in great demand.
PANELIST: Mr. Aneef Tas, CEO, Endefo (the brand of Rascotec Communications Pvt Ltd)
As we all know, nowadays, biometrics, face recognition, voice recognition, AR, VR, AI etc. are all becoming part of wearable technology. Within a year or two, we are expecting smart finger rings, smart glasses, etc to become common wearables. The smart wearables and smartphones are getting more and more integrated and connected. We, at Endefo, manufacture devices in our India plant and we are also exporting to countries in the Middle East, Africa and other countries.
PANELIST: Mr. Manu Seth, International Business Leader, Chairman – ASSOCHAM (JEDC) & Mobility Industry Expert
The increasing convergence, connectivity, and integration is leading to higher productivity and efficiency. This has led to the demand for multi-featured devices. In the coming 5 years, we will see many new tools and advance devices coming into the market. The domestic manufacturing will get a boost. As already discussed, future devices need more powerful batteries and faster charging. In 2024-25, GaN charging technology is going to play a big role.
PANELIST: Mr. Rajesh Khurana, Country Head – Consumer Business – South Asia and Africa, BIWIN Technology LLC
Earlier, we use to talk about gold rush, essentially referring to the availability of the metal, but now industry is talking about the AI gold rush. High capacity and fast responding storage plays an indispensable role in the smart devices today. At Biwin, we make flash storage for several leading brands like HP and Acer. AI, 5G and storage with low latency and high capacity are going to play a big role in the smart world. There is a huge focus on embedded storage—where the storage is sliced and embedded on devices. There is also a growing demand for industrial storage. Industrial storage is a type of flash storage that is specially made to to bear high temperature and other heavy environmental factors. Storage is going to offer a lot opportunity to the vendors and the partners in the coming 3 years.
PANELIST: Mr. Vivek Gupta, CEO & Co-Founder, ServeXplus India Pvt Ltd
Today, service has become a crucial factor. With most features, functionalities, affordability and even quality being same between the brands, the effective after-sales-service has become the major differentiator. Earlier service problems were the big irritants for both for the brands as well to the customers. Clearing service requests used to take from 2 days to 2 months. Today, customer warranty validation, identifying the issue and providing services all are happening within 2 hours to 2 days.
Online validation and verification has made things happen much faster and in easier way, ensuring better customer satisfaction. If customers are satisfied, it enhances their loyalty towards the respective brand.
In a Nutshell
Today, smart wearables are becoming standalone devices taking over several operations which were earlier performed only by smartphones; the 5G is set to give seamless connectivity; and Bluetooth technology is playing big role. Today, the Indian companies are also manufacturing smartphones and accessories in India for domestic consumption and some domestic manufacturers are also exporting to the countries in Africa, the Middle East and other regions, where Made in India products are getting preference from the partners as well as the end users.
Covered By: Mobility India
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