Indians are chasing Chinese mobile phones, thinking Xiaomi is an Indian brand

According to a report on May 2, foreign media reported that Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have been aggressively entering India since 2013 and have achieved amazing results in a short period of time, not only encroaching on the territory of international brands such as Samsung and LG from South Korea, but also grabbing the market share of local Indian mobile phones. According to the Indian mobile phone market report just released by the International Data Corporation (IDC), the market share of Chinese mobile phones in India has increased from 5% in 2013 to 22% today.

According to a report by Voice of America on its website on April 29, the Indian fashion magazine Outlook published an investigative article titled "From China, with Love", analyzing why Chinese mobile phones are popular among consumers, especially young people, in the Indian market. The article quoted Kuldeep Chengappa, a scientist in Bangalore, as saying, "Chinese mobile phones offer competitive features and are cheap, making them an obvious choice."

According to the report, India has surpassed the United States to become the world's second largest smartphone market after China, with 220 million users. As the Chinese mobile phone market becomes increasingly saturated, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have stepped up their efforts to expand overseas markets, and India has become their first choice. Reporters can see advertisements or stores of Chinese mobile phones such as Lenovo, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Huawei everywhere in various cities in India, and some Indian consumers interviewed randomly also have high opinions of Chinese mobile phones.

Most of the mobile phone models launched by these Chinese manufacturers in India are priced between US$100 and US$300, which is lower than the prices of international brands such as Samsung and Apple, and different from local Indian mobile phones that are mainly promoted in the low-end market below US$100. However, price positioning is not the only advantage of Chinese mobile phones. Tarun Pathak, a designer at market research company Counterpoint Research, believes that "Chinese brands' smartphones have made significant improvements in hardware design, software flexibility, and user interface (UI) integration. In addition, they are also very active in market launch and grasping product trends."

For example, international brands such as Samsung and Apple often pre-install a lot of software in their phones, but this does not conform to the habits of Indian consumers, who like to load or uninstall apps (third-party application software on smartphones) at will. Chinese phones mostly provide them with this convenience and rarely force the installation of things that consumers think are useless.

The report said that Chinese mobile phone companies also carefully designed their brand image and positioning. For example, Xiaomi claimed that 75% of its mobile phone components come from India, fully responding to the "Make in India" national strategy promoted by Indian Prime Minister Modi after he came to power. Even its advertisements used the very friendly slogan "Mi from India", so that some Indian consumers believed that Xiaomi was a local Indian brand.

Allen, a Chinese manager from Shenzhen who set up a mobile phone parts company in Kolkata, told reporters: "75% is unlikely at the moment. Most Chinese mobile phone manufacturers still bring domestic material parts to India for assembly. This is called semi-knocked-down (SKD)." In the past few years of development, Chinese mobile phone companies have established a relatively complete supply chain in China. Some local Indian mobile phones actually use parts purchased in China and assembled in India.

The report said that although Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have been making great strides in India, like other Chinese-made products entering overseas markets, these mobile phone companies will more or less encounter some special local problems. Xiaomi mobile phones were briefly banned by the Indian government in 2014 due to a patent lawsuit between it and Ericsson. It seems that the Indian government is willing to make a "fair ruling" at least in patent disputes with foreign manufacturers (there are also many infringement incidents involving local Indian companies, and most of the time, the Indian government does not take any measures against them).

In addition, according to the Times of India, the Indian government also announced last week that it would ban the import of some Chinese mobile phones on the grounds that these phones "do not have the International Identity for Mobile Devices and lack some security features required by the Indian government."

However, in general, Chinese mobile phones have made a name for themselves in India. Pankaj Mohindroo of the Indian Mobile Industry Association said that Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have learned from the lessons of other Chinese industries entering the international market and can compete with international brands in terms of product quality and after-sales service: "In the field of smartphones, they have helped Indian consumers eliminate the negative impression of 'Made in China' in the past."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.