India in talks with tech industry about shared charging port – Tablets, phones – News

Now I’ll add more to that:

Despite the fact that people are poorer on average, the smartphone occupies a very prominent position throughout Southeast Asia. It is the fastest growing market for mobile devices. Budget smartphones are especially popular because they are more affordable than computers and with mobile internet, you’re still connected even if your home doesn’t have an internet connection. In India mainly Chinese brands dominate the market (Xiaome, OPPO, Realme, Vivo)And I suspect this would be particularly the low-end part.

Mobile service providers there also act as payment service providers and many small businesses also trade in this way online. Paying by phone number is not uncommon out there.

So no, the market in India is really big and there is little chance that players will ignore this market. But the market share of Chinese manufacturers is lower in Europe than in Southeast Asia. These still relate to the concept of “made in China” things, or with growing distrust of Chinese technology products due to espionage.

From that point on, you can go two ways as a manufacturer: you can choose to play both markets with the same product. Then there is little chance that a second copy will be made with a different port, because mass production is cheaper. Or you choose to keep your markets separate, and then it might be interesting to choose a different connector for the Indian market. But then you can no longer market this product in the European Union. You thus become a partial local player.

Either way, the EU’s decision to mandate USB-C will also affect the Indian market. The question is how this effect will manifest itself in practice and how India will deal with it later. If I understand correctly, they also want to get rid of some sensors with this research.