Boycott Chinese handsets?? Here are the facts..
With the recent ban imposed by the Indian government on the 59 Chinese apps, there are calls and appeals from individuals as well as groups to boycott Chinese handset makers.
Considering the mid-range smartphone market, it is very interesting to note that the same is entirely captured by the Chinese brands with Redmi, Oppo ,Vivo and RealMe spinning the moolah and having a big share in the market. With anti-China sentiments running high after the cross border fiasco the consensus to go for Chinese handset seems to be on the lower side and would be interesting to see how these Companies fare in the next quarter.
It is very interesting to know that most of these major Chinese companies have an assembly of their devices in India and also some of them come with a make in India tag. So we decided to take statistics of all major handset companies and see how much have they have helped with the economical aspect of our country and boycotting which brand is going to pain us the most
List of smartphones made in India
Let’s move on to the list of smartphones made in India now, by brand:
Xiaomi
Headquarters: China
No. of employees in India: 30,000+
Factory locations: Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh
According to the company, 99 percent of Xiaomi smartphones up for sale in India are manufactured locally through contract manufacturers like Foxconn and Flex. This applies to the Mi, Redmi, and POCO phones it sells here. In fact, the only Xiaomi smartphone that is made in China and imported to India is the Mi 10 – all other smartphones, right from Redmi 8 series to the POCO X2, are made locally. Xiaomi makes 3 smartphones per second in India, it said last year while inaugurating its seventh plant in the country.
Samsung
Headquarters: South Korea
No. of employees in India: 20,000+
Factory location: Uttar Pradesh
Samsung operates the world’s biggest smartphone factory out of Noida where it has the capacity to make 120 million smartphones a year. It not only sells the smartphones made at this plant in India but also exports them to other countries. The company makes most of its smartphones in India, from the affordable M series to the premium Note series. However, the list of smartphones that are not made in India includes Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+, S20 Ultra, Galaxy Note 10 Lite, Galaxy S10 Lite, Galaxy Fold, and Galaxy Z Flip. Samsung makes these phones out of its plants in Vietnam and South Korea; it doesn’t have mobile phone production factories in China anymore.
Vivo
Headquarters: China
No. of employees in India: 10,000
Factory location: Uttar Pradesh
Vivo’s Greater Noida plants can make 34.8 million smartphones a year and all the smartphones it sells in the country are made at this plant only. It also had plans of making India an export hub to supply smartphones to other countries. In November 2019, it employed 10,000 people at the plant with an estimate of increasing the workforce to 15,000 by mid-2020. However, the coronavirus pandemic could have halted this hiring target now that only 30 percent of employees are allowed to work in a factory due to social distancing norms.
OPPO
Headquarters: China
No. of employees in India: 10,000
Factory locations: Uttar Pradesh
The Greater Noida-based factory of OPPO can make 48 million smartphones a year; in August last year, the company had announced plans to more than double this capacity to annual production of 100 million units by 2020. It also planned to increase its workforce from 10,000 people to 15,000 by the end of the current year. All of the company’s smartphones sold locally are made in India; this list includes the new Find X2, which the company says is built locally. It also makes smartphones for its sister brands OnePlus and Realme. It also runs a Research and Development (R&D) Centre in Hyderabad to create India-centric features for its smartphones.
Realme
Headquarters: China
No. of employees in India: 7,500
Factory locations: Uses OPPO’s factory in Greater Noida
Realme directly employs 7,500 people in India and plans to take the figure to 10,000 by the end of 2020. It says it is in talks with suppliers to support domestic manufacturing; it sources 60 percent of the components used in its smartphones from Indian companies. All of its smartphones are made in India and it can produce 3.6 million units annually.
OnePlus
Headquarters: China
No. of employees in India: 100-500
Factory locations: Noida (assembly of OnePlus smartphones in India is done by OPPO)
OnePlus smartphones are made by OPPO in India and the company does not have a factory of its own in the country at the moment. However, it said last year that it plans to set up a production facility in India and will encourage its component makers to set up a base in the country. It operates an R&D centre out of Hyderabad, where it employs 100-500 people.
Apple
Headquarters: Unites States
No. of employees in India: 3,500+
Factory locations: Tamil Nadu, Karnataka
Apple uses contract manufacturers Foxconn (Chennai) and Wistron (Bengaluru) to make some of the phones it sells in India. Models such as iPhone XR, 7, (reportedly) SE 2020 are made in India, while the flagship iPhone 11 series as well as iPhone XS and iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are imported. In fact, it sells smartphones worth $1.5 billion in India but only iPhones worth $500 million are made locally. The rest are imported models. However, that might change soon.
It was reported in March this year that Apple is not willing to move smartphone production out of China to India because the supply chain here (despite the coronavirus pandemic halting manufacturing in China in the preceding months) is not robust enough to manufacture components such as high-end OLED panels. However, just two months later, it was reported that the company is now considering moving production to India and make iPhones worth $40 billion in the domestic market. In other words, the company is looking to make India an export hub.
ASUS
Headquarters: Taiwan
No. of employees in India: N/A
Factory locations: Andhra Pradesh
ASUS has a factory in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh where it manufactures. However, the company did not clarify which models it makes at this plant. Nonetheless, we do know that its premium gaming smartphone, the ROG Phone 2, is imported to India.
Huawei and Honor
Headquarters: China
No. of employees in India: 7,500+
Factory locations: Tamil Nadu (Flex)
The majority of Huawei and Honor smartphones sold in India are made locally, the company says. The company has tapped Flex to make these smartphones at its Tamil Nadu facility. However, the list doesn’t include its flagship smartphones or the latest Honor 9X Pro. The company also operates an R&D centre in Bengaluru that can accommodate over 5,000 engineers.
Motorola
Headquarters: United States (and Chinese ownership)
No. of employees in India:
Factory locations: Tamil Nadu (Flex)
The headquarters of Motorola are located in Chicago, Illinois but the company as a whole is owned by China-based Lenovo. All of its smartphones sold in India are made locally at the contract manufacturer Flex’s plant in Tamil Nadu except for the flagship Motorola Edge+. On the other hand, the foldable Motorola Razr 2019 is made in India.
Nokia (HMD Global)
Headquarters: Finland
No. of employees in India:
Factory locations: Andhra Pradesh (Foxconn)
HMD Global licenses the Nokia brand to make and sell smartphones. The company is based in Finland, though it is partially owned by Taiwan-based Foxconn. Of course, Foxconn makes Nokia smartphones in the Indian market. The company makes all of its smartphones except Nokia 9 PureView locally and plans to manufacture most of the components used in its smartphones in India by 2022.
Lava
Headquarters: India
No. of employees in India: Unclear
Factory locations: Uttar Pradesh
All Lava smartphones are made in India and it has shut down its design centre in China and will invest Rs 800 crore for design and development in India – the government’s performance-linked investment (PLI) scheme has made it cheaper for the company to design and develop smartphones locally. Its Noida-based facility can produce 36 million units a year; of this, roughly 24 million are exported annually. However, not all smartphones are meant for consumers – Lava acts as a contract manufacturer for US-based telecom operators and makes affordable smartphones them. It also makes handheld devices for medical use.
Micromax
Headquarters: India
No. of employees in India: N/A
Factory locations: Uttarakhand
Micromax has been out of the smartphone game for the last couple of years, though it has launched a few models inbetween. However, it has been known for importing smartphones from China in the past and selling them with its own branding in India. The company recently announced it will launch three smartphones in the country soon, though it has not yet clarified whether they will be made in India or China.
Infinix, Tecno, and Itel
Headquarters: China
No. of employees in India: N/A
Infinix, Tecno, and Itel are registered in Hong Kong but their parent company Transsion Holdings is based out of China. Infinix says all of its smartphones are made in India at its Noida-based plant and industry sources say 40-50 percent of the components it uses are purchased from local manufacturers. Neither Tecno nor its sub-brand Itel shared information about the location of assembly of their smartphones with us.
Headquarters: United States
Google doesn’t sell the latest Pixel 4 series smartphones in the Indian market. The only Pixel smartphone you can buy in India at the moment is last year’s Pixel 3a, which is imported. Google doesn’t make smartphones in India on its own or via contract manufacturers.
Considering all the handset makers and the investment made in India it's very interesting to observe that most makers have resorted to assembling the product in a India thereby gaining the make in India Tag. It's very interesting to note the workforce employed by these tech Giants is huge and any suspension in their activity will bear adverse effect on our economy.
So the ball lies in your court again... Take an informed decision and go ahead. Happy Buying..?!
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