News

June 18, 2020

Micromax gearing for “big” market comeback amid India-China standoff

Financial Express

Homegrown brand Micromax is gearing for a big market comeback amid the ongoing India-China standoff situation. The Gurugram-based company has taken to social media to confirm that soon it will come up with something big. In a separate post, Micromax has teased a “device with premium features, thoroughly modern look and budget friendly.”

But more importantly, Micromax claims its upcoming product will be made by Indian (company) and made for Indian (customers). Clearly, Micromax is looking to cash in on the ongoing anti-China sentiment in the country, but remember, this is also the same company that has a record of selling rebranded Chinese phones in India (during its heyday), with co-founder Rahul Sharma even establishing a sub brand called Yu Televentures later that started proceedings with rebranded Coolpad phones.

Micromax doesn’t talk about the product at length, nor does it say how it plans to make a comeback in the Indian market, though, according to a Gadgets 360 report, the company may be working on as many as three affordable phones (all priced under Rs 10,000) due for launch tentatively in July. Micromax’s last phone in India was the iOne Note.

You can say that the current situation is an opportunity for Micromax to shine and clearly the brand has been quick to latch on to it. It would be interesting to see how things pan out in the days to come, though history is clearly not on Micromax’s side. That’s not to say it hasn’t seen its good days. Micromax was once a very popular brand in India but it failed due to a couple of reasons. One was of course the fact that many products in its portfolio were in fact rebranded Chinese products, and also, Micromax wasn’t very quick to foresee the 4G era.

Rivals, particularly from China, came in with more value devices with high-end specs (including 4G) and rock-bottom prices and Micromax simply failed to catch up. It would be interesting to see how much of the anti-China sentiment can help boost its second coming, but at least, there’s some opportunity.