Following in the footsteps of Reliance Jio, Gurgaon-headquartered handset maker Micromax Informatics is working on cheap feature phones that supportĀ 4G VoLTE calls. The move comes after an unexpected slump after Chinese smartphone makers took over the market.
The smartphone maker plans to launch the two feature phones named Bharat One and Bharat Two, early next month, as per two officials in the know of the matter.
āWhile the VoLTE feature phone could lead to operator tie-ups to push the category and acceptance, the smartphone may have a back-end tie-up with Transerv and MVisa that could enable digital payments,ā one of the officials cited above said to ET.
As per the other official, talks are on with all major operators. Jio is the only one with a Pan-India full VoLTE network that is up and running, while the other carriers are still experimenting with the technology.
The Indian handset maker is late in manufacturing and operation, but as Chinese brands have taken over the market, Indian smartphone makers are in a volatile position. Addressing a price segment under $50 USD, which accounts for most of the devices sold in India, could help propel it back into the reckoning for the top spot, analysts said.
Setback and overcome
The second-largest handset company in India, Micromax has slumped to theĀ fifth position in the overall rankings of smartphones.
Manoeuvring into VoLTE phones the companyās upcoming feature phone will fit well under Rs 2,500. Micromax is also planning to launch 4G VoLTE smartphone at under $50 (Rs 3,300) that may also have an integrated digital payments feature to regain market share on the back of volumes, two sources said.
Launching a VoLTE feature phone will foray Micromax into the territory of Reliance Digital, which is planning similar devices costing between Rs 999 and Rs 1,500 that could hit the market later this month.
As tipped, Micromaxās 4G VoLTE feature phone will have aĀ touch-and-type capability but wonāt run on Android OS. The phone launch will target the marketĀ and will fill the basic feature phone service void.
Feature phone-to-smartphone conversion has stalled mainly due to few use cases for consumers besides comparatively higher prices of data and devices.
A recent example is Itel which offers devices starting at Rs 700 in the feature phone segment, which comprises around 55% of the Indian market and grew 9% through last year to 136 million units, contrary to expectations of a decline.
Zig-Zag market
Smartphone devices grew 5% last year to 109 million units, slower than the previous years, according to IDC data. Also, of the total $17 billion phone market, feature phones account for $2 billion and smartphones for $15 billion, on theĀ wholesale price basis, as per Counterpoint Research data.
Micromax is finally entering into the lower tier, by releasing aĀ new set of smartphones and feature phones, which will definitely expand the companyās market prospects. Also, the new phone includes fingerprint and the iris-scanning abilities in low-cost smartphones would add more value to the government-backed digital payments programme. Experts said that adding such features will increase device cost, defeating the purpose of making mobile-based payments more affordable to users across the economic spectrum.
