Where is Micromax and Lava? Can they make a comeback? [GADGET TALES]

You must remember the time when companies like Micromax used to dominate the budget phone market. But with the arrival of new brands, it lost the market. What led to the failure of this company? Stay tuned to know.

HTC Dream and iPhone 3G

So let's sit in our time machine and I will take you back to 2008 when the first touch-screen phone, the iPhone 3G was launched in India. In 2009, the first Android Phone, HTC Dream was launched in India. Then the Korean tech giant Samsung launched its Galaxy i7500. By 2010-11, people started upgrading to a smartphone. HTC, Samsung, Apple, Google Nexus and LG were some really popular brands. These phones were quite good but the only problem with these phones was their high price tag. Most people didn't want to pay that much for a phone. It's because smartphones at that time weren't necessities like they are today.

Galaxy i7500

So Indian companies that were already selling feature phones saw this as an opportunity to capture the market. Micromax bought Android Phones from Chinese OEMs, re-branded them, put them in their boxes and launched it as a new phone in the market at a low price. And as expected, these phones were superhit due to their low price. People didn't want to buy costly HTCs, Samsungs and LGs when Micromax was giving their phones at 10-15 thousand. Within an year or so, Micromax phones clinched the Indian Market. More companies like Lava and Intex brought their inexpensive phones in India. The main selling point of these phones was its budget price. 

Micromax dominated the market until 2014 and there was even a quarter when it surpassed Samsung to became India's number one smartphone brand. Other players like Lava, Spice and Intex were also doing a great job, if not as good as Micromax. Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna were the first celebrities to endorse Micromax Phones. Hugh Jackman was the brand ambassador of Micromax and appeared in a commercial in 2013 for its flagship phone, Canvas Turbo A250. 

But all these phones had one problem. These were re-branded phones of Chinese OEMs. They had no manufacturing units and no RND. So whatever they got in China at a low price, they used to dump it in the Indian Market. They worked on high-profit margins and never thought about the customers.

The phones shipped with a clean interface but they never got software updates. If there was a bug, there was no chance that it would be fixed. They just gave a few of their useless apps to call their phones unique. Micromax shifted to Made in India phones by the end of 2015 but it was too late. Plus the software updates situation didn't improve either. The phones still had issues. 

Another thing is that those phones had really poor battery backup. While using the phone at maybe 70%, the phone suddenly shut down and when I turn it on, the battery is at 0%. The phones were terribly slow too. There were many other issues in their phones and I can dedicate a separate post on it. 

People kept buying these phones because of the lack of options. But the market completely changed in 2014 when Motorola launched its Moto G. It was a big upgrade over the phones of Indian Brands. Motorola was already popular and had good service. It provided a Snapdragon 400 at the price of ₹12k which no one else provided. 

A Snapdragon Processor on a budget was rare at that time. All the other phones in the market had MediaTek Chips that had slow performance and heating issues (There was no MediaTek Helio at that time). Motorola even launched its Moto E which had a Snapdragon 200 and was even cheaper. 

Moto realized that the Online market was growing in India as Amazon came to India in 2013 and players like Flipkart and Snapdeal were also there. So they launched their Moto G and Moto E as Flipkart Exclusives. 

So people who bought Micromax phones online shifted to Motorola. And companies like Samsung, LG and HTC launched their budget line of phones too and many people preferred these big brands. But Micromax, Lava, Intex were still selling phones in the offline market. 

Then the company came which totally changed the Indian Market. It is none other than Xiaomi. It was already popular in China as the 'Apple of China'. They provided quality products with premium specs at dirt-cheap prices. 

Xiaomi launched its Mi 3 in India at the price of ₹14k. It was again a Flipkart Exclusive phone. It was sold in a flash sale and 20,000 units were sold in just 2.4 seconds. It had the same processor as the Nexus 5 which costed more than ₹20k. It was the first time when Flipkart crashed. 

Then Xiaomi launched its cheaper Redmi 1S which came at just ₹6k. It had the Snapdragon 400 which the Moto G also had but this was much cheaper. It was also sold in a flash sale and 40,000 units were sold in just 4.2 seconds. One fact to know is that Samsung launched its Galaxy Grand 2 with the same processor at ₹23k. 

Xiaomi Phones in 2014

Xiaomi launched many more phones and seeing their success, other Chinese players like Meizu, Huawei, LeEco entered the Indian market in the following years. Some of them became successful but some Chinese brands flopped. As time passed, the Indian brands lost their online sale. But they were still selling their phones in the offline market and things were going well there.

But offline sales couldn't even last long. Oppo and Vivo came to India. They made some offline centric phones that quickly became successful. They weren't value kings but they had very strong marketing. They used to highlight one feature and put blue and green boards everywhere. This totally ate the offline sales of Indian Brands. 

To fight in the online market, Micromax launched YU Televentures. It launched many phones like Yu Yureka, Yu Yuphoria and Yureka Note. But all these phones were again rebranded Coolpad Phones. It wouldn't be wrong if it didn't carry all the cons of Micromax phones and had heating issues and poor battery life. 

Rahul Sharma launching Yu Yureka

By the end of 2018, Indian Brands were totally extinct. What were the mistakes made by these brands? The only mistake they did was dumping Rebranded Chinese Phones in Indian Market. This led to no updates and buggy software. The after-sale service was also pathetic and you wouldn't even get parts for a local repair.  Micromax launched its Micromax Infinity N11 and Infinity N12. They had decent specs but Micromax didn't advertise it much. YU launched its YU Ace in 2018 but it couldn't create a big impact either. 

The last phone Micromax launched in India was the Micromax iOne Note in January 2020. It was overpriced and had a very bad Spreadtrum Processor. Lava launches its entry-level phones in the offline market but the specs are not good and people prefer to buy other phones. 

So is there any scope of revival? I would say that nothing is impossible for a company which has been a leader in the Indian Mobile Market. People are boycotting China Phones. Micromax and Lava are already working on their new phones and I can say that from their Twitter Page. They have to give specifications to fight the likes of the competitors. They have to push security updates every month or alternate month.

I really hope that Micromax and Lava launch some really good phones and I would surely suggest them. What do you think? Tell me down in the comment section. Also read