The battlelines for the affordable 5G chipset market for mobile phones have been drawn between the country’s two leading chip design makers, Qualcomm and MediaTek.
Powered by the new offering, the Snapdragon 4G Gen 2 chipset, Xioami is all set to launch the first sub Rs 10,000 price with the Poco M6 mobile smart phone which is up for sale from 9 August across retail channels and exclusively with Flipkart.
The new chipset from American chip designer Qualcomm has also been used to power the Redmi 12, a 5G phone which went on sale on 5 August at an affordable price tag of Rs 10,999.
Over two lakh pieces of the Redmi 12 were sold on the first day through various retail channels including Amazon and M1 online sites where stocks vanished in no time, according to maket analysts.
According to Qualcomm, it is the first chip in the series to be built on a 4 nanometre node and provides a 10 per cent better performance than its predecessors.
But taking on Qualcomm is Taiwanese giant MediaTek which last month announced the MediaTek Dimensity 6100 + which is also focused on budget 5G phones. The company has said that the first smartphones based on the new chipset will be available in Q3 of 2023. But sources say a mobile phone based on it will be up for sale by the month end, leaving very little gap in the India launches of the two chipset makers.
Qualcomm is working with mobile operators to reduce the price of phones further to Rs 8,000 and many manufacturers say that the target is to hit Rs 7,000 by the festive season.
Qualcomm has tied up with at least another two players – one of which is Vivo – who will also launch phones in the affordable segment by powering their phones with it soon.
The prices of 5G phones could see a sharp fall, without substantial compromises on the specifications (which is essential for customers to shift from 4G to 5G).
Xiaomi’s Poco M6 includes a 4G RAM, front and rear camera, 6.79 inch full HD display and 64 GB storage.
The downward trend in the price of phones is key for the proliferation of 5G, especially as Reliance Jio and Airtel are aggressively building their networks across the country.
They already have more than three lakh Base Transceiver Stations powered by 5G radios. Reliance Jio has said it will have pan-India coverage by the end of the year.
Based on data from the telcos, government officials say the total number of 5G customers has crossed 100 million. The service, though, is patchy because the roll out is still underway.
According to estimates, the number of 5G customers could go up further. A forecast by Ericsson says it will shoot up to 700 million by 2028. But this can only happen if 5G phone prices fall even further, making it affordable for customers to move from 2G, 4G and upgrade to 5G.
Chipmakers say prices could fall further with higher volumes. Here, China could be the key.
· Qualcomm’s new chip will help Indian market make sub Rs 10,000 5G phones.
· It is working to bring down the price point to Rs 7,000 in festival season.
· Xiaomi’s Poco M6, powered with Qualcomm’s entry level chip, will have an effective price of sub Rs 10,000.
· Its new phone Redmi 12 – launched on the same Qualcomm chip set at Rs 10,999 – sold 2 lakh pieces on day one.
· MediaTek’s new entry level chip launched in India in July will power a 5G phone at an affordable price this month.
· Two other players will also launch phones on Qualcomm’s new chip, one being Vivo.
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