The Indian smartphone industry is currently struggling as the sale and manufacturing of smartphones had been put on hold in the country for the past couple of weeks.
Nevertheless, as a solution, the government of India has eased some of the norms for businesses to carry out operations. This includes the sale and manufacturing of smartphones which is now permissible in certain safe zones.
Major smartphone brands like Samsung, Oppo among others have started the sale of smartphone and some have even started their manufacturing units.
Since the lockdown is still in effect most brands are pushing the sale through online platforms and delivering the phone to the customer’s doorstep.
Xiaomi Launches Mi Commerce
Xiaomi’s manufacturing responsibilities are taken care of by Foxconn which has received necessary approvals to begin manufacturing and the company is expecting production to start soon.
Its other units are in the process of receiving permissions from state and local authorities.
Xiaomi has also launched its ‘Mi Commerce’ for users to help them browse and buy the latest Xiaomi products from their nearest offline retail store while staying at home. It is also providing deliveries of its products via e-commerce in green and orange zones.
This ensures that customers maintain social distancing, and ensuring the safety of users and retailers at Xiaomi retail stores.
Samsung Phased Opening Of Retail Outlets
Samsung has started the phased opening of some of its retail outlets across the country. The decision to open these exclusive brand stores is in conformity with the government regulations and guidelines to maintain the safety of people.
The company has also assured that it will “follow social distancing and sanitisation guidelines to safeguard the health and safety of our customers, employees, vendors, and partners.”
As of now, these Samsung outlets are opening in the green zones demarcated by the district authorities.
To ensure the safety of the employee manning the cash counter, cashiers have been instructed to wear masks at all times. Customers will be encouraged to use digital contactless payments and swiping machines will be sanitized before being given to the customer to ensure the highest standards of hygiene is maintained.
Also, Samsung in partnership with Benow has also launched a new app where it will allow customers to buy Galaxy smartphones across more than 20,000 offline retailers from their neighbourhood stores.
Retailers will have to register themselves on the app and display their portfolio of Samsung phones. The customers can pay through multiple sources and get the phone delivered at their homes.
Realme Resumes Sale of Smartphones
Realme has also announced the commencement of online orders and sale of its smartphones, accessories through its online retail partners like Flipkart and Amazon.
The company also said that its offline units have also started operating in the green zones at the same time complying with the government’s orders.
The company has not started its manufacturing unit as it’s waiting for approvals from the government.
The brand has approached the State Government to get necessary approvals for reopening limited production lines with measures to ensure the safety of our employees. If we receive the approval, our factory’s primary task will be on producing the new Narzo series and the popular existing models including Realme 6 series.Realme India
OnePlus, Oppo & Vivo Also Begin Deliveries
Chinese smartphone manufacturer and Realme’s parent brand Oppo has got permission from the state government to resume operations at its Greater Noida manufacturing facility.
It has also commenced the sale of its smartphones through its online partners and customers can also place the order through WhatsApp, SMS to ensure contactless doorstep delivery.
“As a company, we will continue to follow government directives in terms of both sales and manufacturing in India. Accordingly, we are gradually re-opening standalone stores in green and orange zones while Amazon.in and oneplus.in will resume sales in these areas as well.OnePlus India
Vivo has also launched its Smart Retail program which will let offline retailers sell their phones directly to the customer via SMS, Vivo’s website, and official Facebook page.
Upcoming Smartphones
We haven’t received any official word for other smartphone makers in India on how they are planning to sell their smartphones, however, it’s safe to assume that most of it is going to be via online retail.
We do know there is a slew of smartphone launches in the coming days.
Honor is scheduled to launch the Honor 9X Pro on 12 May and we’ll get more details on its availability later.
We are yet to hear about the availability of the OnePlus 8 and the 8 Pro not to mention the much-awaited Apple iPhone SE.
We spoke to both OnePlus and Apple on the availability of their respective devices but didn’t receive an official sale date.
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