In series

Last month Micromax made a surprising announcement that they were making a comeback to the Indian smartphone market. Often regarded as a significant player in the budget-phone segment, Micromax was an Indian favorite a few years ago. The comeback rides on the hopes that Indians will prefer Micromax to the Chinese phones which now flood the market. The comeback pitch which they launched regarding their new releases also captured this sentiment beautifully. With the new phones out, here’s a quick look at how the company expects the Indian market to react.

Micromax Pitch for a New Future

Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma talked about his humble origins in Micromax’s advertisement for their new devices. During the ad, he spoke about how his father was an ordinary government school teacher. Since Micromax has always been an economical choice for Indians, the advertisement emphasizes the right emotions. The comeback pitch also focused heavily on nationalism and patriotism. Both these emotions have been on a high recently due to border skirmishes with the Chinese. 

The advertisement focused on Sharma, who has served as the brand’s face for years. Started by Vikas Jain, Rajesh Agarwal, Sumeet Kumar, and Rahul Sharma, Micromax took the market by a storm. The video also talks about the success the brand enjoyed and how it eventually lost out to Chinese competitors. He then goes on to reference the events at the border, with the Galwan issue being a hot topic recently. The emotional pitch makes it clear that Micromax hopes the current Anti-China sentiment will help it regain its foothold in the Indian market. With their new line named IN hitting markets, Micromax requires all the help it can get to muster a strong comeback.

What the Experts Think

However, industry experts seem to think that the Anti-China sentiment can only do so much for the company. While the idea might work temporarily, consumers still look for value when buying products. Off late, the Chinese products have been delivering the value that consumers seek and have hence become a hit. Therefore, to succeed, Micromax will have to match its competitors in terms of specifications and price. The Research Director at the International Data Corporation, Navkendar Singh, believes that unless they go head-to-head with the Chinese on quality, the brand will not be able to make an impact.

A survey was done by the IDC in July, soon after the border skirmish showed that though seven out of ten consumers asked for a non-Chinese phone, only two or three bought one. The most significant reason for this being that there aren’t many non-Chinese options in the market. Apple is not affordable to most Indians, leaving Samsung the most prominent choice for consumers. 

How to Make a Difference?

Since the sentiment is an emotional reaction, Rushabh Doshi who heads research at Canalys Research believes Micromax might make an impact. However, he is quick to point out that the brand lost against Chinese competitors before due to their quality and after-sales services. In the past, the company relied heavily on Chinese supply chains which also made procurement complicated. He believes that the only way they can make an impact is if they have a robust intellectual property to rival Chinese vendors. With the market’s 80% being accounted for by the top five players, can Micromax’s nationalist pitch make a difference?

Micromax’s Options 

Realme has been able to make a space for itself within the market, proving that it is in fact, possible. However, the top five brands, which now include Realme, are pushing out smaller ones, such as Motorola, LG, and Nokia. Experts think that sticking to the budget INR 7000-8000 range might help the company. Since most of these brands exist within the highly competitive INR 10,000-20,000 range, avoiding this might help Micromax regain some market share. Also, the last few months witnessed a lot of people shifting to the budget category due to financial constraints. The sub-10,000 range has fewer players, with the major ones being Tecno, ITEL, Redmi, and Realme due to its low-margin characteristics. As a result, most experts believed that the November 3 launch would focus on budget-friendly options.

Micromax IN Series Launch

After much anticipation, Micromax finally launched the IN series in India yesterday. The brand released two new phones, IN Note 1 and IN 1b which fall within the INR 7000-11,000 range. The phones will go on sale on both the official Micromax website and Flipkart. 

Micromax IN Note

The phone is powered by the MediaTek G85 and features a 5000 mAh battery and runs Stock Android as its OS. The Micromax IN Note 1 has a base price of 10,999 and will house 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. Meanwhile, the model that has 4GB RAM and 128GB storage will cost users INR 12,999. The phone will go on sale on November 24th through both Flipkart and Micromax’s official website. The phone features a relatively large 6.7-inch full HD display and comes with a punch-hole camera. The phone has a 48MP rear camera that has a 5MP for ultra-wide angle and a dual 2MP setup for Macro and depth sensors. In the front, the phone features a 16MP ultra-wide angle selfie camera.

Micromax IN 1b

This budget-friendly option from Micromax runs on a MediaTek G35. Like the more expensive model, this too features a 5000 mAh battery and will run Stock Android. This option will start at a base price of INR 6,999 and will have 2GB RAM and storage worth 32GB. The model that runs on 4GB RAM and offers 64GB storage will go for sale at INR 7,999. It features an HD+ display on a screen that is 6.5-inches in size and comes with a mini drop design. The phone comes with an AI Dual camera, that has an 8MP front camera and a 13MP primary camera with a 2MP depth sensor.

Both these phones will face stiff competition from the Redmi 9 series, along with ITEL and Tecno phones. So, we will have to wait and see whether the nationalistic sentiments help Micromax climb back to the top of the Indian market. Whatever might happen, it is good news that Indians now have an economical choice that is made-in-India when buying a new smartphone.