Bangalore, November 20 2018: Across India, feature phones, with their low costs, and longer battery life, continue to be popular, enabling Indians to get connected than ever before.
According to  Cyber Media Research (CMR) Mobile Handset Market Review, in Q2 2018, feature phones accounted for 30% of the India mobile handset market. Samsung led the leaderboard, followed by Nokia and Micromax.
For Google, the competition is no longer confined to Apple or Samsung. There are many other smartphone brands taking big calculated risks with their smartphone offerings. Google would need to take a leaf out of Microsoft’s acquisition playbook and come up with a string of acquisitions that would provide it with the talent necessary to build a competitive edge in the hypercompetitive smartphone market.
Google’s nascent foray into hardware, thus far, has mostly been a work-in-progress, with its most prominent success being Google Chromecast. The Chromecast nailed it with its value proposition and affordable pricing. When it comes to Smartphones, Google has premium aspirations and gunning for Apple and Samsung. For Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL to be successful, it would need to be not just premium-looking, but also up the ante with its software to push past other competitive smartphone offerings.
For Pixel 3 and 3 XL to be successful on current rumoured specs and form, it would find widespread consumer acceptance, if it were to price it in the sub $500 price range, and aimed at the likes of OnePlus, Asus, Vivo, Oppo.