Smartphones That Should Have Launched In India In 2020

On the other hand, the number of smartphones from brands like Huawei and Asus has declined in the Indian market. Several smartphones have been launched in the international market but not in India. Enlisted below are some of the devices which should have launched in India in 2020.

 

OnePlus Nord N100 And N10 5G

OnePlus is a premium smartphone brand, here in India. The company introduced two budget handsets in the international market namely the Nord N10 5G and the Nord N100 which haven't reached India yet. The Nord N10 5G is priced starting from €329 (around Rs. 28,500) and the features of the handset include a 90Hz LCD panel, powered by the Snapdragon 690 chipset with a 64MP quad-camera setup and more.

On the other hand, the Nord N100's retail price starts at €179 (around. Rs. 17,000) which could have been an affordable phone with a huge 5,000 mAh battery based on the Snapdragon 460 chipset with a triple rear camera setup. OnePlus Nord is the most affordable phone from the company in India, launching phones like the Nord N10 and the Nord N100 would have opened up a whole new market segment for the company.

One of the possible reasons for the OnePlus for not introducing these two phones in India could the brand image. Though these phones would have generated a lot of revenue, they would have taken the "flagship/premium" smartphone brand trophy from the brand.

Asus ZenFone 7 And ZenFone 7 Pro

Asus is a well-known brand for its flagship and gaming smartphones. The Asus ZenFone 7 and the ZenFone 7 Pro were launched back in August in Taiwan. Both phones offer flagship-level features and would have competed against the likes of the other affordable flagships like the OnePlus 8 and the Mi 10.

Asus had some issues when it comes to launching the Asus ZenFone 6z in India, concerning the "ZenFone" branding. Later, the brand launched the phone under a new name called Asus 6Z. It looks like the phone didn't sell as the company expected, hence, the brand might not have launched the Asus ZenFone 7 lineup, here in India.

Huawei Mate 40 Series

Huawei Mate 40 Series is the latest flagship-offering from the Chinese brand which went official in October 2020. The series comprises of three models -- the Mate 40, Mate 40 Pro, and the Mate 40 Pro+. So far, there are no details regarding the India launch. The series with the powerful Kirin 9000 chipset could have been a good competitor to the other brands like OnePlus, Apple.

The most possible reason for not launching these phones in India is because they don't support GPS (Google Play Services), which means, one could not use features like Google Maps, YouTube, Google Play Store, and even most third-party apps only work on Android phones that support Google Play Services.

Even if the Mate 40 series of phones got launched in India, they would have had very underwhelming sale figures. So, Huawei has not launched these phones, which seems like a good decision for the brand in terms of finance.

Sony Xperia 5 II

The Sony Xperia 5 II is another flagship smartphone that India missed out on. The smartphone got official in September 2020 and was available in Europe for EUR 899 (around Rs. 78,000). The key features of the device include a 120Hz full-HD+ OLED display with octa-core Snapdragon 865 SoC. The device also supports 18W fast charging which claims to take just 30 minutes to charge 50 percent of the battery. The company officially announced last year that it was about to exit the smartphone market in India. The company is currently focusing on gaming, audio, camera products in the Indian market.

Besides these major listings, brands like HTC and ZTE also skipped a few smartphones. The ZTE Axon 20 5G is one such device, which is the world's first phone with an under-display selfie camera and the handset comes with a starting price of CNY 2,198 (around Rs. 23,500).