Can India’s big smartphone economy grow without China?

This week, Mint’s reportage underlined that while survival isn’t under threat, the big factor that’s come under fire is growth. And growth—for the sake of our big, bold aatmanirbhar dreams—is non-negotiable at the moment. A stream of experts that we spoke with all said the same thing: say what you will, but at the end of the day, China still holds ample sway across the electronics industry—in semiconductors that power your iPhone, machines that make it, and a hundred tiny components that you’d never even need to know existed.

Is it for our lack of trying? Or, is it simply the fact that just like Rome, China’s dominance in electronics too wasn’t built in a day? Our reportage takes you deep into the point where China stifling tech access to India can hurt the most.

On the other hand, Elon’s stars are here!

Late on Thursday, a select group of journalists, Mint included, received invitations for a certain press showcase. While such invitations are a dime a dozen, this one was different—it announced the arrival of Tesla in India. Yes, after a million missed reports and apparently confirmed deadlines, Tesla is finally here.

But before we get too excited, it is an ‘experience centre’ that will be opened in Mumbai—you can’t quite instantly go and buy one. Still, it’s the start of the end to a long-drawn saga. In the time that’s been spent between the first reports of Tesla officially entering India, to now: the brand has gone from being a renegade prodigy of the ailing, heavily-polluting world of automobiles—to going on its own decline.

Now, after having been threatened by US president Trump to not be “unfair” to homeland America and making cars in India, Tesla will do what its chief Elon Musk had tried hard to avoid for long: pay a hefty duty that will certainly make its cars rank in the luxury car territory by pricing.

Now, in fact, word has it that Tesla will even start deliveries as soon as the next 30 days. Here’s everything that you should know.

Before we move on, Musk’s other star kid—Starlink—is here too. In yet another extremely prolonged waiting game, satellite communications services are ready to compete with each other. It was shaping up to be a full-scale battle of the billionaires between Musk, Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani and Bharti Enterprises’ Sunil Bharti Mittal. But, in May, both the major operators of India shook hands with Musk’s Starlink and became distributors for it.

What now? In market terms, a three-way setup where each party is in some way collaborators might not be the best for the consumer in terms of pricing freedom. All that comes later, though. For now, rejoice

Speaking of launches and returns…

Remember Madhav Sheth? If you were a tech geek over the past seven-odd years in India, it is highly unlikely that you’d have missed his name completely. You may have forgotten—after all, he withdrew himself largely from his very public spotlight role, when he stepped down from Realme amidst a thrilling spectrum of speculations.

This Tuesday, Sheth announced his return to his old hunting ground, even as his once-formidable and yet close foe has moved on to… (cue drum rolls)—artificial intelligence.

Sheth, though, is back with more phones to sell. While consistency is a generally great idea, one can’t but ask: if the turf itself has transformed into something else, would the same track specialist still hold similar sway as before? Only time will tell, but until then, here’s what we feel could influence Sheth’s latest stint in India’s $50-billion smartphone market.

And in other news…

Samsung launched its latest foldable. While Mint skipped a trip to New York City for it, word from the streets is that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 measures only four millimetres in thickness—that is an impressive feat of engineering for sure. But, would it do anything differently? We’re not quite sure yet. Stay tuned until next week for our take on it.

Also, Nvidia beat everyone—literally everyone—to become the world’s first company worth $4 trillion. The company’s staggering rise is a story of its founder/chief Jensen Huang’s persistence in selling graphic processing units, or GPUs—shiny tech toys once frowned upon as things a geek wastes their money on, but are among the world’s most in-demand commodities today. 

As Nvidia celebrates, an emphatic question keeps coming nearer: sure, Nvidia’s market cap is actually based on true technical innovation. But, after Huang, who will keep the ship going?
India smartphone industry China dependence