Mobiistar continues to face an onslaught from Chinese competitors like Xiaomi and Realme, a sub-brand of Oppo. continues to face an onslaught from Chinese competitors like Xiaomi and Realme, a sub-brand of Oppo.

Vietnamese smartphone maker Mobiistar says the sub-Rs 5,000 segment is declining fast in India as consumers are willing to pay a little more for a better device with improved specifications and features. “The sub-Rs 5,000 smartphone segment is shrinking in India,” Carl Ngo, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mobiistar, told indianexpress.com.

“People are not happy with the lower performance of a smartphone priced below Rs 5,000. Now, people are spending more money on smartphones in the range of Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000. We also play in that segment,” Carl said.

Ngo was in India recently to announce the company’s new budget smartphone – the Mobiistar C1 Shine. The phone, which costs Rs 6,100, features a 18:9 aspect ratio, 8MP selfie camera and a 3000mAh battery. The company said the C1 Shine will help gain volumes quickly, given the fact that it has been positioned to woo the mass market. It also plans to launch another smartphone in the coming days.

Both the phones will cater to the offline market, which according to Carl will be the key focus for the company moving forward. Mobiistar has over 500 distributors across India and about 1000 service centres.

But it is not going to be an easy ride for Mobiistar to break into the budget segment. The brand continues to face an onslaught from Chinese competitors like Xiaomi and Realme, a sub-brand of Oppo. Xiaomi is the largest smartphone maker in India with about 27.3 per per cent market share in the Q3 2018, ahead of rivals Samsung, Oppo and Vivo, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Carl says the company would like to focus on those “good” features that really matter to their customers. “We would rather focus on a few good things, rather than everything,” he adds. For the Indian market, in particular, Mobiistar is stressing a lot on the selfie feature on smartphones. The consumers are actually demanding more budget smartphones with a superior front-facing camera and the company wants to encash on that.

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