Affordable smartphones: Five top trends for Tier 2 and Tier 3 customers

By Arijeet Talapatra, CEO, TRANSSION India

The smartphone industry is evolving at breakneck speed. One moment, there is swelling anticipation around a new product, the next moment it is paving the way for a bigger, better feature-led innovation. The biggest shift in innovation and features is being witnessed at the entry and mid-budget smartphone segments. We take a look at five trends that will shape affordable smartphone market in 2020.

Modern consumer that says bigger is better: Even the category consumers of the modern Tier 2 and Tier 3 India are increasingly switching to their smartphones to view movies, videos, sports and play games. To cater to this trend, smartphones screens will grow bigger, taller with most screens at 6.5-inch size or beyond. These screens, because of their mobile viewing ability, need to ensure they are bright enough in daylight to provide smooth viewing experience.

Thin Bezel and Dot-In display: Smartphone makers are ensuring to provide dot-in display (commonly known as punch hole display) with really thin bezels to customers even at the entry and mid-budget segments. And this ubiquitous adoption of the feature seeks to make this one of the prominent trends of 2020 and make true full-view display a real possibility for all. The aesthetic factors that determine modern-day smartphone usage demand fluid, uninterrupted viewing, thus giving way to the pop-up concept. This is expected to set the trend in multiple avatars—a motorised pop-up selfie camera, rotational rear camera, or a slider.

Powerful battery with fast charging: Focus is now on larger, more powerful batteries and charging ability that can power phones at the snap of a finger. In 2020, more and more entry-level and budget smartphones will witness the introduction of 6000 mAh battery with fast charging.

Advent of the quad-camera: In 2019, new smartphones saw the rise of triple cameras in affordable segment. In the coming year, camera performance will be notched up further with the quad-camera set-up that was limited to premium or high-end smartphones will become popular in budget smartphones. The quad set-up will also focus on higher pixels, zoom, depth of focus and wide angle to provide a DSLR-like holistic photographic experience to consumers as well as enhanced performance under low-light conditions.

Improved AI experience: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is set to find enhanced and sharpened application in smartphones. From photography to user interface, the role of AI will evolve to provide smart, optimised and efficient user experience. And with the adoption and application in the entry level and mid-affordable segment, it is set to emerge as a potent trend that will guide the evolution of budget smartphone industry in the future.

The writer is CEO, Transsion India