The Smartphone Market Crunch

There is a lot to like in the Huawei Ascend D quad XL. It is my favorite phone in the local market. 

The smartphone landscape will transform a lot in 2013. The entry level market, with phones priced at 10K or less, will start more and more to be taken over by local companies bringing in ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) phones. Cherry Mobile, Cloudfone, MyPhone, Star Mobile, Torque Mobile and newer players like Kata offer you phones what for the major manufacturers are mid-level phones, at an entry level price. HTC Desire X, has the same specifications as Cherry Mobile's Flame, which is a third of the cost.

Than you have Huawei, Lenovo, Sharp and ZTE offering mid-levels phones which are almost as good as flagship phones from  Apple, HTC, LG, Nokia Samsung and Sony at a mid-level price point. The 4-inch WVGA (480 x 800) dual core Galaxy S III mini, looks interesting enough at its price, until you compare it with ZTE's 4.5-inch HD (720 x 1280) quad core offering, the ZTE Grand Era U895. Actually, it is more app to compare the ZTE Grand Era U895 with the Google Nexus 4, remembering that the Nexus 4 will cost you 50% more.

I think the major manufacturers will have to ceed the entry level market to the ODM designs in 2013. Margins are thin at this level. They are going to try to have to hold the line in the mid-level phones. Let Huawei or ZTE get to much mindshare and it could be the next Samsung. 

As one reader put it:

1080p at sub 20k and the 720p ZTE Grand Era at sub 15k. The big boys better offer something more interesting than this.