As per the analysts, after the launch of new chip by Qualcomm, the cost of the 5G smartphones shall be reduced to under Rs 8,000. This is suggested to lead to migration of 156 million feature phone users to 5G by 2030.
Qualcomm’s New Snapdragon Chipset to Drive 5G Smartphones Under Rs 8,000
The research firm said in a note that “Between 2024-2030 period, we estimate the 5G widening into sub $99 segment to add $13 billion cumulatively in revenues for the smartphone industry”.
It was on Tuesday that the chipmakers launched its Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 India-specific chipset, which will for the 1st time enable mobile phone companies to launch 5G smartphones in the below Rs 8,000 segment.
It shall be with Xiaomi that the chipset shall be launched and the device shall be announced by 2024 end. Notably, it’s not just Xiaomi, but the Qualcomm is in touch with all the smartphone makers and brands to integrate the chipset for affordable 5G devices.
Faisal Kawoosa, chief analyst at Techarc said that “Beginning 2025, we expect to see 2-3% contribution of the smartphone revenues in India coming from 5G smartphones sold in sub $99 segment. During the period our analysis suggests there could be addition of 17-32 million subscribers every year to the 5G smartphone base”.
As per him, it shall be the 3rd time that the ecosystem is trying to do something for the below Rs 10,000 segment. The plus point this time around is the fact that it is fundamentally technology driven than business and finance.
Challenges: Second-Hand Market Competition and Slow Adoption Due to Price and Use Cases
As per the challenges that have been pointed out for the adoption of new sub-Rs 8,000 5G smartphones shall be the competition that it can potentially face from the second hand smartphone market.
The research firm said that “Smartphones selling in the Rs 15,000-20,000 range in first hand markets will be available in the Rs 5,000-8,000 range in a couple of years from now. Many consumers will prefer them because of having better specifications than what we are expecting in sub $99 5G smartphones developed using Qualcomm 4s Gen 2 and other equivalents that other chipset makers will offer in future”.
Another key challenges that the 2G users might face while migrating to the 5G smartphones would be the absence of 5G usecases and increase in mobile tariffs.
As per the firm, there shall not be huge adoption of the smartphones being offered in the Rs 7000-8000 range. What can eventually drive adoption as well as good volume sales would be the gradual price reduction to Rs 5,000-6000 range.
