This year the smartphone sales may see a plunge by the effects of Jio Phone, which is set to kick out as many looting smartphone companies who offer even general telecom services on a big price bag. The smartphone industry was already aching with the after effects of GST which was due to the ambiguity of decisions. Now the Jio Phone which came as a rescuer for the feature phone users in India.
A total of three market research firms slashed their projection by a significant level as the effects of GST and Jio Phone is likely to take up on the sales of smartphones. The market research firm Canalys has dropped its assumptions of smartphone sales in India by half to a 4 to 5 percent after the previously done assessment in January.
While, another market research firm hailing from Hong Kong, Counterpoint Technology Market Research, now sums up the smartphone sales at 11 percent down from 15 percent. The smartphone sales in India for the year 2017 also gets to see a dip by the CyberMedia research firm which now states only 5 to 6 percent of sales from earlier speculated 10 percent.
But on the other front, it is also expected that the smartphone sales will be higher than the speculations in festive season i.e. October and around. The giant firm JP Morgan stated that a sales hike of 25 to 30 percent will be sequential with 7 percent add on due to festive season regardless of any outer effects of taxation.
All this drop down is happened to be the Jio Phone launched recently by the Jio Telecom and is ready for the shipments after the bookings. The Jio Phone is set to offer unlimited calling and 4G data benefits in a minuscule INR 153 per month charge. Also, a security amount of INR 1500 must be deposited with the retailers while taking the Jio Phone, which will be returned after a period of 3 years.
The offer is as much lucrative as its earlier Jio plans are also in talks among the data consumers across the nation. An analyst at the Canalys stated that “First half of the year has been slower than expected due to GST and demonetization. Growth should pick up in the second half but if Jio Phone has some impact, then it will further slow down the transition to smartphones.”
A research analyst at the CyberMedia Research, Faisal Kawoosa, mentioned that “GST will have a bearing and we are expecting Jio Phone will have some impact.” There were some tight situations before the GST implementation as many of the dealers and smartphone manufacturers lowered down their inventory with no decisions clarifications.
