India

Apple to soon start production of iPhone 6s in India

Will Apple lower the price now?

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Reports are emerging that Apple’s manufacturing contractor in India, Wistron, has started production of the iPhone 6s at their Bengaluru facility and the units will reach stores pretty soon. Apple has been assembling the iPhone SE in India since last year and it was speculated that the iPhone 6s will be next in line.

The device is being commercially manufactured, essentially meaning that if you go and buy an iPhone 6s, there are high chances that it will have the “Assembled in India” badge on it. Apple is closely working with its Taiwanese partner and the two are planning to ramp up the facilities in Bengaluru. This basically means another iPhone model could soon start rolling out of the facility.

It is highly unlikely prices of the phone will be officially lowered in the coming weeks, since the device is being assembled in limited quantities. Until Apple manages to match the local production with that of the demand within the country, there will be no respite for the buyer.

A few months back, it was confirmed that Wistron had been granted 43 acres of land near Bengaluru to expand its production facility. Apple has been trying to set up local facilities for years now, but always found itself cornered due to unfavorable government policies.

In fact, Apple wants to have a direct selling channel in India; this way it can manage its own showrooms and won’t have to rely on distributors and resellers. But it has been unable to establish one because the country doesn’t allow FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in retail and Apple does not have enough local production.

The Indian Government hiked customs duty on imported mobile phones from 15 to 20 percent this year in a bid to encourage local sourcing. Companies like Samsung, Vivo, OPPO, Xiaomi, and BlackBerry are already assembling in India. Fortuntaely for Apple, the government has been more cooperative recently thanks to the “Make in India” initiative.

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India

POCO X2 now official with 120Hz display, Snapdragon 730G

It has finally arrived!

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February 4, 2020

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After a long wait, POCO has officially unveiled the POCO X2 in India today. The brand used to be a sub-brand of Xiaomi but recently turned completely independent. The brand has also emphasized that the phone is not a successor of the POCO F1, but a completely new series.

On the front, it has a 6.67-inch screen with a ratio of 20:9 and a 120Hz refresh rate. The brand is calling the higher refresh rate “Reality Flow” and it has been incorporated via an LCD panel. Keep in mind, apps and games need to support a higher refresh rate to fully deliver a smooth experience.

It’s powered by a Snapdragon 730G processor along with an Adreno 618 GPU. Just like the POCO F1, it also gets liquid cooling for enhanced longer periods of gaming. The brand repeatedly compared its offering aginst the Realme X2, the opponent it intends to take on. For power backup, you get a 4,500 mAh battery that supports 27W fast charging. And, the fast charging brick is included with the phone by default.

It houses up to 8GB LPDDR4 RAM and 256GB internal storage. The phone is being targeted as a fast device that can handle any task you throw at it. The fingerprint scanner is now mounted on the side and the back is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

On the rear is a Sony IMX686 64-megapixel primary camera paired with a 2-megapixel portrait sensor, 2-megapixel macro lens, and an 8-megapixel wide-angle sensor. This is the first phone to sport the Sony IMX686 sensor in India. On the front is a 20-megapixel primary camera along with a 2-megapixel portrait sensor.

POCO continues to retain the headphone jack. Additionally, it’s splash-proof and also houses an IR blaster on the top.

Pricing and availability

It’ll be available in three colors — Atlantis Blue, Matrix Purple, and Phoenix Red. In India, the 6GB+64GB variant is priced at INR 15,999, the 6GB+128GB is priced at INR 16,999 while the 8GB+256GB option costs INR 19,999.

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Vivo now second-most shipped smartphone brand in India

Their aggressive expansion strategies have paid off

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February 1, 2020

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Vivo continues to ride high from its expansion efforts in India. Just last quarter of 2019, it overtook Samsung to become the second most shipped smartphone brand in India.

In the latest findings from Counterpoint Research, Vivo composed 21% of the total smartphone shipped to Indian users. This figure is a sharp contrast to Q4 2018, wherein the company composed of just 10% for all smartphone shipments.  As such, the year-on-year (YoY) growth of Vivo from Q4 2018 to Q4 2019 is an astounding 132%.

The growth of Vivo helped it overtake Samsung to become the second most shipped smartphone brand in India. Samsung’s position dropped from 20% in Q4 2018 to 19% in Q4 2019 – which is not that bad for the Korean company.

While Vivo’s expansion efforts in both online and offline realm propelled the company, it still can’t compete with Xiaomi’s growth for both quarters. Xiaomi posted a 7% YoY growth, composing 27% of all smartphone shipped in India.

The latest findings came from Counterpoint’s research regarding India’s smartphone market. The latest research showed the growing market for smartphones in the country. As a matter of fact, it finally surpassed the US to become the second-largest smartphone market in the world.

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India

Poco X2 is coming in February

The wait is almost over

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January 27, 2020

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The long wait is now almost over. POCO India just revealed that the next Pocophone will launch on February 4, 2020.

Announced in a tweet, the next phone will be called POCO X2 and, according to the company, will make you go “Bruh, it’s Smooth AF.”

Why smooth? It’s likely referring to a high screen refresh rate — a feature that was introduced in 2019 by the likes of OnePlus and ASUS and will likely come to several phones in 2020. It’s possible the POCO X2 will have up to a 120hz screen refresh rate.

The phone’s dedicated website also highlighted the cameras, a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, liquid cooling, and fast charging. If the POCO X2 will carry on the “flagship killer” tag that the Pocophone F1 carried, then it wouldn’t be a stretch to think that it will carry the latest Qualcomm SoC.

There’s still a lot that we don’t know, but we don’t have to wait too long to find out!

SEE ALSO: POCO is now officially an independent brand

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