/
•
•
Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
The smartphone company—struggling at home—faces ever greater challenges in what is now its biggest market
Editor's note: If you bought a new Xiaomi smartphone in India recently, you are unlikely to have missed a small sticker on the top of the box: “India’s No. 1 smartphone brand”. The company's fantastic success in the growing Indian smartphone market has made it the top smartphone brand in the country, displacing behemoths like Samsung, while warding off the challenge from other Chinese brands that hit Indian shores around the same time Xiaomi did. In 2019, Xiaomi completed five years in the Indian market. Between anniversary celebrations and taking some pot-shots at the competition, Xiaomi kept pushing the numero uno narrative in every way it could. But if you look past all that glory—and some complacency in 2018—Xiaomi faces more than one conundrum in 2020. While Xiaomi outflanked Samsung as the top smartphone brand in India, if one dives deeper, you realize that BBK Electronics has slowly, but assuredly, risen to the top of the leaderboard of the smartphone manufacturers in India. Founded in 1998 by Duan Yongping, BBK Electronics Corp. started off as a manufacturer and distributor of consumer electronics …
The smartphone company—struggling at home—faces ever greater challenges in what is now its biggest market
Editor's note: If you bought a new Xiaomi smartphone in India recently, you are unlikely to have missed a small sticker on the top of the box: “India’s No. 1 smartphone brand”. The company's fantastic success in the growing Indian smartphone market has made it the top smartphone brand in the country, displacing behemoths like Samsung, while warding off the challenge from other Chinese brands that hit Indian shores around the same time Xiaomi did. In 2019, Xiaomi completed five years in the Indian market. Between anniversary celebrations and taking some pot-shots at the competition, Xiaomi kept pushing the numero uno narrative in every way it could. But if you look past all that glory—and some complacency in 2018—Xiaomi faces more than one conundrum in 2020. While Xiaomi outflanked Samsung as the top smartphone brand in India, if one dives deeper, you realize that BBK Electronics has slowly, but assuredly, risen to the top of the leaderboard of the smartphone manufacturers in India. Founded in 1998 by Duan Yongping, BBK Electronics Corp. started off as a manufacturer and distributor of consumer electronics …
Chinese diplomats to India are saying all the right things for Indian ears, but Beijing’s policy actions are moving in the opposite direction.
Brands are struggling amid plunging prices of lab-grown diamonds, poor margins, intense competition, shaky global demand and a domestic market where tradition continues to shape buying decisions.
While the Rs 9,000 crore promoter investment in Q1 brings a measure of reassurance, investors will still have to wait for Jio and retail to work through their challenges.
Chinese diplomats to India are saying all the right things for Indian ears, but Beijing’s policy actions are moving in the opposite direction.
Brands are struggling amid plunging prices of lab-grown diamonds, poor margins, intense competition, shaky global demand and a domestic market where tradition continues to shape buying decisions.
While the Rs 9,000 crore promoter investment in Q1 brings a measure of reassurance, investors will still have to wait for Jio and retail to work through their challenges.
