A recent Techarc analysis forecasts that 156 million feature phone users in India will transition to 5G by 2030, driven by the introduction of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chipset. This new chipset will enable mobile phone manufacturers to offer 5G smartphones priced below Rs 8,000, significantly lowering the entry barrier for 5G adoption. However, competition from the used smartphone market, which offers higher-specification devices at comparable prices, may challenge the widespread adoption of these low-cost 5G smartphones.
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156 million feature phone users will switch to 5G by 2030 as a result of Qualcomm’s introduction of a new chip that will lower the price of 5G smartphones below Rs 8,000, according to a Techarc analysis.
“Between 2024-2030 period, we estimate the 5G widening into sub US$ 99 segment to add US$ 13 billion cumulatively in revenues for the smartphone industry,” said the research firm.
Mobile phone companies will be able to introduce 5G smartphones in the sub-Rs 8,000 segment for the first time thanks to Qualcomm’s launch of the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chipset on Tuesday.
By the end of 2024, Xiaomi will be the first brand to announce a product using the chipset, even though Qualcomm is in contact with all smartphone makers to integrate the chipset for reasonably priced 5G devices.
According to Faisal Kawoosa, chief analyst at Techarc, “beginning 2025, we expect to see 2-3% contribution of the smartphone revenues in India coming from 5G smartphones sold in sub US$ 99 segment. During the period, our analysis suggests there could be an addition of 17-32 million subscribers every year to the 5G smartphone base.”
Kawoosa claims that this is the ecosystem’s third attempt to address the under Rs 10,000 market, which is primarily driven by technology rather than business and finance.
Techarc has identified the competition from the used smartphone market as one of the obstacles to the adoption of 5G smartphones priced under Rs 8,000.
In a few years, smartphones that currently retail for between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 in first-hand markets will be available for between Rs 5,000 and Rs 8,000. Due to their superior specifications over what we anticipate in 5G smartphones created with Qualcomm 4s Gen 2 and other equivalents that other chip makers will offer in the future, many consumers will choose them, according to the research firm.
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