Last summer, Xiaomi started selling their smartphones direct into the Indian market, seen as one of the first signs of Xiaomi’s global ambition. Whilst this process has not been completely smooth – Xiaomi devices faced a sales ban because of an alleged patent infringement – the company has not been perturbed. More recently, we’ve seen further developments such as the investment into Xiaomi from the founder of Indian conglomerate, Tata Industries. And whilst Xiaomi is the largest Chinese smartphone manufacturer entering other markets, it is by no means the only. Enter Nubia, owned by ZTE, where we have seen signs of an imminent launch into the Indian market. As well as following Xiaomi, Nubia will be following Vivo, plus Meizu has announced plans to enter the Indian market with the M1 Note device.
India is seen as a critical developing smartphone market because device penetration is around one in ten, but the country’s mobile networks are evolving rapidly. Recent studies have predicted a significant increase in Internet use in India, which is believed will be driven by customers using smartphones. It’s a fact that domestic carriers have not ignored: the costs of both data plans and devices has been steadily decreasing. A new entrant into the market should increase competitive pressure, keeping prices down and of course it will generate additional interest.
Nubia has opened accounts on various social networks in India and started a separate website for Indian customers, nubia.in. The advertising shows a box with the caption, “Now, there is no limit to what you can achieve.” Unfortunately, this doesn’t reveal what devices Nubia will be bringing to the Indian market, nor does it provide us with a timescale. However, given the new social networking accounts being opened, it would appear that a launch is right around the corner. As to the first device Nubia will launch… It might be the newly Nubia Z9, the bezel-less flagship that has been recently unveiled. The Z9 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, running Android 5.0 Lollipop under a customized user interface (Nubia US 3.0). However, this is still a developing story and we will let you know as soon as we have additional information.