Why all the hate for local brands?

[Arv90]

The very perception that cheaper phones fall under substandard category needs to be changed.
Yesterday's Indian Express article of Indian brands Market Share rising to 30% from 3% in an year was a surprising fact for me
People who are used to Notes & Iphones will never accept the pros of Indian branded phones.
The very country that makes all branded phones manufacture the so called cheap phones.
There are many people participating on this discussion who have opted to phones like Pantech Burst only because it came from a US company.
However the quality was very much close to these Indian brands.

The awe for costly phones lasts for not more than a month .
The entire population has started seeing smartphones like the old nokia 1100 or 3310.

Sometimes feel contented that the scenario has changed where the market has a phone for each class of the society with respect to the age where letters & STD booths were the only choice to communicate in the country.

 

[prateekS]

The very perception that cheaper phones fall under substandard category needs to be changed.
Yesterday's Indian Express article of Indian brands Market Share rising to 30% from 3% in an year was a surprising fact for me
People who are used to Notes & Iphones will never accept the pros of Indian branded phones.
The very country that makes all branded phones manufacture the so called cheap phones.
There are many people participating on this discussion who have opted to phones like Pantech Burst only because it came from a US company.
However the quality was very much close to these Indian brands.

The awe for costly phones lasts for not more than a month .
The entire population has started seeing smartphones like the old nokia 1100 or 3310.

Sometimes feel contented that the scenario has changed where the market has a phone for each class of the society with respect to the age where letters & STD booths were the only choice to communicate in the country.

I don't see any Indian companies using any quality hardware, they are just making a fortune selling rebranded phones.

Don't insult the pantech burst.

 

[phunguus]

Service centers & warranty doesn't mean jack sh!t in India. A sony/lg service center isn't too different from a micromax service center when it comes to ripping customers off. I have owned nokia phones all my life so i can vouch for their after sales services. But other than that, i keep hearing stories of people complaining about services centers of all kinds.

The only difference between branded phones and rebranded phones is the QC policies. Plus the bigger brands' higher pricing effectively throttles the number of phones that get sold and hence they don't end up getting flooded with too many devices waiting to get RMAed. On the other hand, the cheap phones get sold in lakhs. Add a little poor QC in production and a sizable chunk of the phones return to the service centers for repair/RMA.

In India, it doesn't matter which brand you own. If you are unlucky enough to get a lemon, then you are pretty much screwed. You will have to run around in service centres, make a ruckus or two, threaten to escalate the matter until you get your device repaired. When people get a branded phone, they are effectively paying more to reduce their chances of being served a lemon. Thats it.

 

[paarkhi]

The very perception that cheaper phones fall under substandard category needs to be changed.
Yesterday's Indian Express article of Indian brands Market Share rising to 30% from 3% in an year was a surprising fact for me
People who are used to Notes & Iphones will never accept the pros of Indian branded phones.

Yes, I accept the Pros of Indian branded Phones or as @prateekS said better to say "Chinese Rebranded Phones" is only that are cheap.

There are many people participating on this discussion who have opted to phones like Pantech Burst only because it came from a US company. However the quality was very much close to these Indian brands.

Pantech is south korean and its quality is far superior than the chinese stuff.

The awe for costly phones lasts for not more than a month.

It's not the awe but the quality and ASS which forces the buyers to go for it and as @phunguus mentioned they have high QC Standards and there are less chances of having a lemon

The entire population has started seeing smartphones like the old nokia 1100 or 3310.

...and that's why they get cheaper chinese rebranded smart phones

Sometimes feel contented that the scenario has changed where the market has a phone for each class of the society with respect to the age where letters & STD booths were the only choice to communicate in the country.

This I agree completely with you that having choice for every price group is good but when someone asks for a advice on this forum (or me personally) to buy a mobile phone, I first ask the budget (this is why we have a format on TE to fill while asking suggestions for purchasing things). It's not the hate, these are just preliminary precaution for the smooth experience after the purchase. If I'm on a budget (between 5-10K) then I myself go for the Chinese rebranded phones, anything above that I go for a famous brand, so as you see it's all depends on the compromise between the budget and preference.

 

[blkrb0t]

At the end of the day, it is "value for money" you're looking for. Chinese re-branded handsets have their place in the low-budget range. However, if someone is investing enough money which can bag a decent handset from a reputed company, then that will be given preference over other "local" brands.

 

[Arv90]

I don't see any Indian companies using any quality hardware, they are just making a fortune selling rebranded phones.
Don't insult the pantech burst.

Hi @prateekS, long time

I do not intend to offend Pantech.
The entire discussion is to why local brands are hated.
If people on this forum can accept Pantech phones then why criticize the phones that has made touchscreen and tech forward phones accessible to many.
QC & service comes with time, as mistakes are bound to happen in any industry.
If there is a crowd appreciating these phones, then there has to be some reason.

As for rebranding, its a big market game in the world since ages. I have friends in your neighborhood , Bangalore, who does rebranding of chinese routers for his ISP business.
What Samsung, Apple and other bigger brands does is rebranding, if gone by proper English dictionary.

Link like these gives the most pinch
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/iphone-5-cost-no-contract-apple-bom,17718.html
In the end i won't mind to fill in pockets of an Indian company.

 

[Party Monger]

I think VFM is defined wrong.

Whats more VFM? A 10k Phone that lasts 4 years or a 5 k phone that can conk off anytime? That is the difference in quality. If you have the money to take the risk Or dont have money but need those features anyway, then go for it. Its good to have that choice, I agree, but then if you say that low quality brands should be loved regardless, then its a stretch.

 

[vantheman5211]

Service centers & warranty doesn't mean jack sh!t in India. A sony/lg service center isn't too different from a micromax service center when it comes to ripping customers off. I have owned nokia phones all my life so i can vouch for their after sales services. But other than that, i keep hearing stories of people complaining about services centers of all kinds.

The only difference between branded phones and rebranded phones is the QC policies. Plus the bigger brands' higher pricing effectively throttles the number of phones that get sold and hence they don't end up getting flooded with too many devices waiting to get RMAed. On the other hand, the cheap phones get sold in lakhs. Add a little poor QC in production and a sizable chunk of the phones return to the service centers for repair/RMA.

In India, it doesn't matter which brand you own. If you are unlucky enough to get a lemon, then you are pretty much screwed. You will have to run around in service centres, make a ruckus or two, threaten to escalate the matter until you get your device repaired. When people get a branded phone, they are effectively paying more to reduce their chances of being served a lemon. Thats it.

Thats a pretty different perspective to what i have.
A service rendered by a company, especially the after sales service of mobile manufacturers is a very important factor in me purchasing a cell phone.

There is a huge difference between the service centres of manufacturers here. I have frankly owned all the major brands and most of their flagship models. I can safely say that brands like moto, htc don't hold a candle when it comes to support towards apple and samsung even in India.

As for the major manufacturers not being able to sell as much as the big brands? Er seriously?

The plethora of local branded phone going for repairs is generally because of two things

1 - quality control measures of these companies which means that there are laxes in different instances of the final product.

2 - cheap components used are the reason that the final product is priced at such a level as to promote mainstream use.

I do also like to differ to your point as to the reason people pay for branded phones over locals to minimise the risk of a lemon. I think it is just one of a plethora of factors along with user experience, better hardware, more software support , better build , better support etc.

 

[htnakirs]

Also, advertising forms a significant part of the total price tag. I think 10 - 15% of the price of a Samsung/Sony is for ads. thats the price you pay for wanting to own something katrina holds.

 

[vantheman5211]

Also, advertising forms a significant part of the total price tag. I think 10 - 15% of the price of a Samsung/Sony is for ads. thats the price you pay for wanting to own something katrina holds.

That is funny, especially when it's the cheaper brands which are trying to do more of that abet with taking a hit on the margins.

Samsung and Sony have more operational efficiency driven through years of experience and competence. The pricing which leads to the final product is more in line to the quality that is offered.

For eg - Assume 2 phones have a similar spec and operating software driving them

Product A would cost around 20 k . This would be a product procured from the foreign market [Read cheap] , will go through the Indian testing standards [ Read none] and would be backed up by a pretty disastrous service. This would lead a sort of a cycle which i have seen develop over the past 3 years. An example of such cycle is below.

Person X buys a Product A - Person X calls Product A a beast and flaunts his 12 MP camera [ Read 2 Mp camera] - Person X soon comprehends that the Product A has lot of niggles - Person X then goes into hibernate mode swearing ubiquitously to his phone when the touch screen becomes less responsive after 2 months of use - Person X then buys another Product [ lets call it product A V2]. And the cycle begins again

Product B would be costing around 35 k.
The additional 15 k would be basically be deviated into 3 parts. Of course there maybe more and i expect it to be more.
5k - This would go into the quality control environment. Phones like the note and Iphones especially go through multiple levels of testing as far as build quality and internal components are concerned.
5k - This normally goes into the logistics and expenses occurred with regards to procuring components which are of a certain standard warranted by top brands. The cost of this maybe less.
5k - This is for having a fantastic and generous number of after sales service outlets which are ready to provide you with better service and competent technicians to enhance your smartphone experience.

Now this may not be entirely accurate and it could be a case to case basis as a person may try his best to salvage his Micromax by efficient managing of software and carefully maintaining the hardware to make it last around 3 years but if a user of similar psyyche is provided with the 2 products said above, the product B would give a better experience.

 

[Imran_Khan]

That is funny, especially when it's the cheaper brands which are trying to do more of that abet with taking a hit on the margins.

Samsung and Sony have more operational efficiency driven through years of experience and competence. The pricing which leads to the final product is more in line to the quality that is offered.

For eg - Assume 2 phones have a similar spec and operating software driving them

Product A would cost around 20 k . This would be a product procured from the foreign market [Read cheap] , will go through the Indian testing standards [ Read none] and would be backed up by a pretty disastrous service. This would lead a sort of a cycle which i have seen develop over the past 3 years. An example of such cycle is below.

Person X buys a Product A - Person X calls Product A a beast and flaunts his 12 MP camera [ Read 2 Mp camera] - Person X soon comprehends that the Product A has lot of niggles - Person X then goes into hibernate mode swearing ubiquitously to his phone when the touch screen becomes less responsive after 2 months of use - Person X then buys another Product [ lets call it product A V2]. And the cycle begins again

Product B would be costing around 35 k.
The additional 15 k would be basically be deviated into 3 parts. Of course there maybe more and i expect it to be more.
5k - This would go into the quality control environment. Phones like the note and Iphones especially go through multiple levels of testing as far as build quality and internal components are concerned.
5k - This normally goes into the logistics and expenses occurred with regards to procuring components which are of a certain standard warranted by top brands. The cost of this maybe less.
5k - This is for having a fantastic and generous number of after sales service outlets which are ready to provide you with better service and competent technicians to enhance your smartphone experience.

Now this may not be entirely accurate and it could be a case to case basis as a person may try his best to salvage his Micromax by efficient managing of software and carefully maintaining the hardware to make it last around 3 years but if a user of similar psyyche is provided with the 2 products said above, the product B would give a better experience.

I like the way you assume things for your example. But in real life what we are talking about is not such small price difference in owing an Indian brand.
Let me give you a simple example -

Product A (read Indian brand) costing Rs.12k-15k for near to similar features as far as OS is concerned (read Android) of couple of well established brands costing in a range of 30k to 40k. There would definitely be difference in quality between the two e.g bulid quality, camera, touch responsiveness. However my point here is one need to see the difference in price as well, which is almost near to 2-3 times.

So lets assume that Person X is well aware about the slight inferior Indian brand and he still can live with it and is willing to take a chance then he can risk 12k to get near similar features of a 30k+ phone. And if he does not get a lemon then he is well enjoying his device. Unfortunately if he gets a lemon (which won't always happen) he still can use the ASS of these companies (though thats a hassel but ASS are always hassel).Even after ASS he is unsuccessful then is has only wasted the percentage of 12k spent which could not be used due to early failure of phone (depends on how long did he used).

So as I had said earlier its very subjective topic. It all depends on individuals like/dislike and risk appetite. As far as my personal opinion goes, I consider all these branded phones are too costly for what features and facilities they are providing. May it be Nokia, Samsung or Apple, 30k+ for a phone is way too much (Its my own experience after owning high end devices and then comparing there actual day to day usage).

Note - I am not affiliated with any Indian brands but would surely like to provide them some support so that Indian industry can also grow. Remember in business you can't provide better quality unless you can invest much and for more investment they need to generate more revenue by higher sales. So unless we assist them until sometime we can't expect them to bring top notch quality products that too at 2-3 times lesser price.

 

[vantheman5211]

I like the way you assume things for your example. But in real life what we are talking about is not such small price difference in owing an Indian brand.
Let me give you a simple example -

Product A (read Indian brand) costing Rs.12k-15k for near to similar features as far as OS is concerned (read Android) of couple of well established brands costing in a range of 30k to 40k. There would definitely be difference in quality between the two e.g bulid quality, camera, touch responsiveness. However my point here is one need to see the difference in price as well, which is almost near to 2-3 times.

So lets assume that Person X is well aware about the slight inferior Indian brand and he still can live with it and is willing to take a chance then he can risk 12k to get near similar features of a 30k+ phone. And if he does not get a lemon then he is well enjoying his device. Unfortunately if he gets a lemon (which won't always happen) he still can use the ASS of these companies (though thats a hassel but ASS are always hassel).Even after ASS he is unsuccessful then is has only wasted the percentage of 12k spent which could not be used due to early failure of phone (depends on how long did he used).

So as I had said earlier its very subjective topic. It all depends on individuals like/dislike and risk appetite. As far as my personal opinion goes, I consider all these branded phones are too costly for what features and facilities they are providing. May it be Nokia, Samsung or Apple, 30k+ for a phone is way too much (Its my own experience after owning high end devices and then comparing there actual day to day usage).

Note - I am not affiliated with any Indian brands but would surely like to provide them some support so that Indian industry can also grow. Remember in business you can't provide better quality unless you can invest much and for more investment they need to generate more revenue by higher sales. So unless we assist them until sometime we can't expect them to bring top notch quality products that too at 2-3 times lesser price.

Err when did i say it ain't my assumption?
Heck the only thing you can do about this topic is assume as to the reason people are shrugging the "value" aspect of Indian brands.

You say the topic is very "subjective" and then you blame me for using my assumptions for backing up my psyche behind these el cheapo brands.

Another thing, as you say you have found your solace is these phones and you "think" that spending 30 k is useless on a phone which runs the same software. The "assumption" here in my opinion is crap. By this "assumption" i should shelve my i5 2400 nd get a pentium proccy instead coz hey it does the same thing at the end of the day.

These brands do add a vfm aspect, and well that is all good in terms of a persons usage as it differs from person to person. Similarly a perception of a person changes in a similar vain.

What is vfm for you might look cheap for me. The only thing real about this topic is that if there is a 20 k phone with similar specs of say an s4. I would rather go for the s4 at a higher cost because i would have more faith in sammy than the Indian brands -patriotism aside.

 

[raksrules]

With our hard earned money, i would not want to be patriotic and spend money on the rebranded chinese phones being marketed by some Indian brands, rather spend on trusted foreign brands. It is business for each of these companies so patriotism goes for a toss.

 

[Imran_Khan]

Err when did i say it ain't my assumption?
Another thing, as you say you have found your solace is these phones and you "think" that spending 30 k is useless on a phone which runs the same software. The "assumption" here in my opinion is crap. By this "assumption" i should shelve my i5 2400 nd get a pentium proccy instead coz hey it does the same thing at the end of the day.

What is vfm for you might look cheap for me. The only thing real about this topic is that if there is a 20 k phone with similar specs of say an s4. I would rather go for the s4 at a higher cost because i would have more faith in sammy than the Indian brands -patriotism aside.

Good that you are assuming but the problem here is that your assumptions are not relevant. When I gave you a comparision I talked about the same features with the OS because the hardware specifictions betweeen phones were similar to 99% extent (I am assuming you are well aware of the difference between hardware and software). I could give you much further insight on your example of i5 and Pentium processors but that will deviate us from the current topic in hand.

I am not talking about patriotism here. Its a simple logic that these companies would only be able to produce better quality products only when they have enough sales to generate more revenue/profits to invest further in quality/R&D. Its upto you that you want to buy their products or not. Its your wish to contiue spending according to your needs and your evaluation of a products quality (read assumption). A simple example of this logic is Samsung, who were (actualy still are) buliding much inferior quality products not so long ago and were not even a much recognized brand. But with the Android revolution they made few devices which increased their revenue and they were able to make somewhat better quality products later on(Still in terms of quality/innovative desigining they have long way to go as compared to Nokia and Apple).

Last but not the least I get a feel that you have got the definition of VFM completely wrong. (No offence here, again ur assumption/wish).

 

[raksrules]

By that logic, you want to spend money on a company's current offerings because you want them to be able to produce better products in future ? That is insane for anyone to do. Why would I put my money on something for them to build better later ?

 

[surajspai]

patriotism does not even come into the picture, literally all of the stuff is made in china.
plus,i have a lot of low end non touch phones from mmx,karbonn etc that ive used or have people i know use.and most have gone kaput just when the warranty period ended.the plastic is cheap,creaky,many could not take a fall well.theres absolutely no build quality,except for the fact that they offer a plethora of features while comparable nokias can only hope for maybe a led torch,or a fm radio at best.

and why would a user have to pay for a company in the hope they will make something better ?and so far becoming better has been-dazzle the layman with "xx cores and zomg big screen!" right?

 

[paarkhi]

err.... How did patriotism come into the picture here in this case

 

[vivek.krishnan]

All, if not then most of the part of the phones are made in China.

And I remembered a very bad experience with Nokia. I had bought a spare Nokia 1202 phone, and was having issues with the battery. And the SIM too. And I feel that Nokia had hired a bunch of retards who were just trying to avoid the issue of the battery by keeping my phone with them and claiming that the bill did not have VAT numbers and all. Eventually, the 6 months warranty was over. I bought a new battery. It goes to say that even Nokia (both the Ghatkopar ASSC) had been just harassing me because they did not care. Since then, its been Samsung for me.

 

[blkrb0t]

They can actually make superior quality products right now itself. But they don't want to. You know why? It hurts their bottom line. They would have to then increase their prices and compete with established brands. However, they have the choice to price their products competitively and deliver superior customer service.

But they've shown that they won't do that. They make profits and then they just scale the production and marketing efforts, forgetting the quality aspect of the hardware. All the Chinese re-branded Indian phones are a race to the bottom.

 

[priyasukumaram]

This is a endless discussion...Both Local and Highly branded phones Fails when it comes to ASS ,as most of the ASS are run by 3rd party and not by the company itself..

As far as question of usability goes.. All parts are made in china whether its a local phone or Highly branded phone .

Its like an Apple , you can take it from local street or by visiting Food mall with stickers on them..
Its the same F**in Apple.

Consider this... You get one year warranty for local phones and they are priced way less than their counter part...Are you seriously gonna use the branded phone after One year ... I may give my 1 year old device to my Mom or someone who is not keen on technology...

I don't see any point why local brands are inferior.. As long as there are apps/games that can be played on both the devices, local brands are here to stay..

They are the real reason behind the price drop of Branded phones ...don't blame them.. they are doing good for Branded phone customers ...