Affordable smartphones fuelling digital payments, content creation in India: Report

Digital payment is undoubtedly on the rise and a recent study suggests that the rise of affordable smartphones in India is one of the reasons behind this. According to CMR Mobile Industry Consumer Insight (MICI) Study conducted by CyberMedia Research (CMR), the availability of affordable smartphones in the last five years has also translated to a significant uptick in  Content Creation/Consumption (80 per cent), and Gaming (70 per cent) in India.   

According to Satya Sundar Mohanty, Head – Industry Consulting Group, CyberMedia Research, value-for-money smartphones and smart devices have ensured that the latest technological features are democratised and available to consumers.  

"Affordable smartphones and more recently, budget-friendly smart devices have given Indian consumers access to advanced features while ensuring brand quality," Mohanty said.

Below are some of the key highlights of the study:

• Friends and family exert the strongest influence (63 per cent) on users when it comes to buying a smartphone and smart devices.
   
• In terms of brand imagery, Samsung is strongly associated with industry leadership (42 per cent), reliability (42 per cent), popularity (42 per cent), long usable life (42 per cent) and feeling great (41 per cent). On the other hand, Xiaomi is strongly associated with feeling great (53 per cent), feeling powerful (46 per cent), reliability (42 per cent), customer centricity (45 per cent), and industry leadership (44 per cent).
   
• In smartphone and smart devices, Xiaomi has the highest total awareness (78 per cent) followed by Samsung (75 per cent), However in terms of usage in the last decade, Xiaomi leads (42 per cent) the pack followed by Samsung (36 per cent). Thus, the conversion of awareness of the brand to its usage is maximum in the case of Xiaomi (54 per cent) followed by Samsung (45 per cent).

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• When it comes to smartphone brand awareness, Xiaomi leads in ToM (14 per cent) as well as total recall (79 per cent) closely followed by Samsung (ToM – 13 per cent, Total Recall – 77 per cent). While comparing current primary usage of smartphone brands also, Xiaomi leads (13 per cent) the pack closely followed by Samsung (12 per cent) and Vivo (11 per cent).
   
• Users of smartphones and smart devices of Xiaomi and Samsung brands are most satisfied (92 per cent) followed by users of Apple (91 per cent) and Boat (90 per cent).
   
• In satisfaction level of smartphones, OnePlus (93 per cent) users are most satisfied followed by Xiaomi (92 per cent) and Apple (91 per cent) users.