As India shifts to 5G, smartphone buyers are getting future-ready using easy finance schemes

Smartphone buyers across the country are upgrading fast, and festive season shopping trends this year are the biggest proof, Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, said on Friday. And, what’s enabling many buyers to get “future-ready” for 5G is easy finance schemes like buy now pay later (BNPL), Pathak told CNBC-TV18.

“There is a premiumisation trend that has been set up in India. People are buying mid to high-end phones, and that is driving the value of the overall category. The premium market, which we defined as more than Rs 30,000, contributes to 10 percent of the overall smartphone sales,” he said.

He expects this number to increase by 2-3 percent as upgradation has been one of the biggest trends this year in the festive season.

Earlier this week, a report by strategy consultant Redseer said that mobile phones made up 41 percent of the total gross merchandise value (GMV), and 56,000 mobiles were sold every hour in the online festive sales that went live ahead of Navrati and Dussehra.

Mobile phones, including iPhones, Samsungs and Google Pixels, were on massive discounts of as much as 60 percent during the sale. At the end of Festive Sale 1, which included all sale events between September 22 and 30, online retail platforms saw an overall 27 percent year-on-year growth, the report said.

Counterpoint’s Pathak said that the first day of the festive season sale was all about iPhones, with people indulging in crazy buying of iPhone 13 and iPhone 14.

This trend was not just seen only but offline as well. “There is a lot of demand for mid to premium end phones,” he said.

According to Pathak, one of the reasons for the jump in demand is the increased number of financial schemes — like BNPL, credit card schemes, and financing schemes — that were introduced this year compared to the last year or the year before that.

“People want to get future ready. For example, we are at the cusp of technology transition, which means everyone is going to buy a future-proof device, which is a 5G phone,” he said.

Pathak explained that the average cost of a good 5G phone is close to Rs 23,000-24,000 and upwards. “That is also driving many people to shift from 4G phones to 5G phones in the country,” he added.

Commenting on the overall trend, Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of the Retailers Association of India, said the retail industry has risen over 19 percent this year compared to pre-COVID levels. He expects the sector to grow 25 percent this year.