Cheap Chinese cell phones are threatened with a ban: the first country wants to take action
Chinese smartphone manufacturers are looking for new sales markets in countries where high growth is still expected. Disaster is now looming on the second largest smartphone market in the world, because particularly cheap Chinese cell phones from Xiaomi, Realme and Co. are to be banned there.
Inexpensive cell phones from China are threatened with a ban in India
After China, India is the second largest smartphone market in the world. More and more people can and want to buy a cheap Android phone. This has attracted many Chinese manufacturers to the country, who sell millions of cheap devices there. However, as tensions mount between China and India, there is a threat of a ban on cheap Chinese cell phones that cost the equivalent of less than 150 euros. Since 80 percent of Chinese smartphones are sold in this price range, the market there would suddenly collapse for Chinese smartphone manufacturers (source: Bloomberg).
What’s behind the plan? Indian manufacturers also build smartphones themselves, which are located precisely in this low-price sector. With this approach, the country could give its own manufacturers some room to sell their own devices. Chinese smartphone manufacturers would not be completely banned from the country, but would no longer be allowed to be active in the price range below 150 euros. This would immediately make the market there less attractive.
Xiaomi wants to read your mind soon:
Who would it hit particularly hard?
Xiaomi is currently the largest smartphone manufacturer in India with a market share of just over 20 percent. This is followed by Realme with 17.5 percent, Vivo with 16.9 percent and Oppo with 11.5 percent. Samsung only has a market share of 11.5 percent there. This is probably also due to the fact that the South Korean company is not so well represented in the cheapest price range. Indian manufacturers are clearly at a disadvantage, but could grow significantly with a ban. This in turn could strengthen the economy in India. Whether it really comes to that remains to be seen.
