No iPhone, no problem? Russia is working on its own Android smartphone
Since the attack on the Ukraine and the withdrawal of large Western companies from the Russian market, the once popular devices from manufacturers such as Apple or Samsung, Acer or IBM have been in short supply in Russia.
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Titan notebook: Old hardware, high price
Russian IT companies are trying to counteract this by developing their own devices. However, access to modern hardware is also severely restricted. The titanium notebook from Baikal Electronics, announced in August 2022, has to use a chip design that is ten years old – and it should still be offered very expensively.
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The National Computer Corporation (NCC), one of Russia’s largest IT companies, has now announced that it will produce its own Android smartphone. Despite promises to the contrary, it is difficult to get hold of Apple’s iPhones or Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones.
The announcement may also come in response to the US Department of Commerce’s recent ban on exporting electronic products priced at more than $300 to Russia, such as Ars Technica writes.
The Russians are currently using Chinese devices in the absence of alternatives. The Russian smartphone market is dominated by Xiaomi, Realme and former Huawei subsidiary Honor. According to Counterpoint, their share alone should have been around 95 percent in 2022.
NCC now wants to fill the gap left by Apple and Samsung. The goal, which seems very ambitious: by the end of 2023, 100,000 smartphones and tablet PCs should have been sold. A market share of ten percent is to be achieved by 2026.
The smartphone doesn’t even have a name. It is unclear how far NCC has progressed with the development. To Russian media explained NCC founder Alexander Kalinin that he wanted to invest the equivalent of more than 120 million euros in the project.
Many questions remain unanswered. For example, whether Google would license the full use of Android at all and thus Google services such as Maps or the Play Store could be used. It is possible that NCC will have to switch to another mobile operating system.
The Linux-based Aurora OS from the Russian telecom company Rostelecom could be considered as an alternative. In addition, it might be possible to use Huawei’s own Harmony OS operating system. At least the Russian mobile phone manufacturer BQ wants to rely on that.
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Whether a Russian smartphone would be successful in the Russian market is not certain. For example, the Yotaphone, despite some notoriety, did not make the desired breakthrough in Western Europe either.
According to observers, when it comes to smartphones and tablet PCs, Russian consumers would rely on brands they already know. The NCC announcement therefore appears to some as a PR stunt.
NCC, in turn, has already indicated a corridor for the price of the upcoming smartphone. That should cost between 125 and 375 euros. It should be produced either in a Russian factory or by Chinese contract manufacturers.
