When smartphone manufacturing took off as a hugely successful business in 2007, the focus was on adding high-end cameras and data features. However, not every smartphone consumer in major countries was too keen on shelling out enormous amounts just to have a flagship iPhone to brandish during events and gatherings. Although the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra offered a cheaper alternative to the iPhone 14 Pro Max, both brands of flagship smartphones are expensive and accessible only to Apple and Samsung lovers.
Yet since 2017, smartphone manufacturers have been seeing a continuing decline. However, what was surprising was the reversal of the trend when Samsung and Huawei began resurging in 2019 as midrange market leaders. In the same year, OPPO also found its smartphones selling like hotcakes.
Making the Price Right by Exploiting BPO
While at first, smartphone manufacturers were able to reduce the costs of high-end smartphones, they were still selling at prices not affordable to midrange consumers.
Eventually, the solution was presented by the midrange consumers themselves, such as students and ordinary workers, who showed interest in having a smartphone to use in their day-to-day lives. The solution was welcomed by most consumers since the price is the most important consideration. Midrange mobile phones are cheaper because the materials used for the structure are of lighter quality, usually recycled from plastic waste. Performance-wise, the cheaper smartphones also have powerful cameras. To further reduce the selling price, some midrange smartphones skipped waterproofing and/or wireless charging features.
The establishment of a decent midrange market also became the turning point in addressing the target goal of expanding the smartphone market in India and its neighboring countries.
Take, for example, the midrange mobile phone Tecno Camon 17. It is supported by the company’s proprietary graphics processor or GPU, the Helio G95 SoC. This technology enables Indian midrange consumers to experience AI-managed features. The Helio G95 SoC is more advanced, which, according to Tecno, is focused on user responsiveness to whatever task is being carried out by the AI-powered smartphone. The cheap materials do not affect the user experience when streaming videos, multitasking on other platforms, exchanging live convos or chat messaging, and uploading photos and video clips.
According to market analyst Canalys, it was Samsung that made some important sacrifices in terms of profit goals and price-to-specs balance just to capture a larger consumer base making up the midrange market in many countries. Currently, the Tecno Camon 17 Pro follows the same business model.