Tag: demand

  • HP partners with Google to manufacture Chromebook laptops in India

    HP, which makes devices like personal computers and laptops, has partnered with technology company Google to manufacture Chromebook laptops in India. Chromebooks will be manufactured at HP’s factory near Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The company has been manufacturing desktops and laptops in this factory for almost three years. American devices maker Apple and South Korea’s Samsung are also increasing manufacturing in the country. ‘Make in India’ is being promoted by the central government. Because of this, many global technology companies are setting up their units in the country or are exploring the possibility of partnership with Indian companies. HP’s senior director (personal systems) in the country, Vickram Bedi, said, “Manufacturing Chromebooks in the country will provide affordable PCs to students. We will continue to support the government’s efforts related to Make in India.” Google’s Head of Education (South Asia), Bani Dhawan, said, “Manufacturing Chromebooks with HP is an important turning point in our efforts to drive a major digital transformation of education in the country.” Samsung has also made preparations to increase manufacturing in India. The company’s smartphones are already being produced in the country. Samsung can also make laptops in its factory in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh from next month. This will give a boost to the Make in India scheme of the Central Government. Under this scheme, incentives are given for electronics manufacturing. According to a media report, Samsung has prepared to set up a new laptop manufacturing unit in the Greater Noida factory that produces smartphones. This unit will have the capacity to manufacture 60,000-70,000 laptops annually. This unit will be started next month. Last month, the government had imposed licensing conditions for import of personal computers, laptops and tablets. Its objective is to increase manufacturing in the country. Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said that the new rule will ensure the use of reliable systems and products in the country. American iPhone maker Apple, which has a major share in the premium smartphone market, has prepared to increase manufacturing in India.

  • Big blow to Twitter, Threads users cross 10 crores

    Microblogging site Twitter’s rival Threads has crossed the mark of 10 crore registered users in less than a week of its launch. In this app of Meta, which runs the social media site Facebook, users can also log in with the details of their Instagram account. It has been introduced as an alternative to services like Twitter. Last week, Threads had its international launch (except the European Union). The number of its users is continuously increasing. A major reason for this is Meta’s link with photo and video sharing service Instagram. Instagram has more than 2.35 billion monthly active users. Twitter is facing tough competition from Threads. Elon Musk, chief of American electric car maker Tesla, took over Twitter last year. Twitter has also accused Meta of stealing its trade secrets. Twitter has also warned of taking legal action against Meta. Semafor’s report quoted a letter sent by Twitter lawyer Alex Spiro to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg as saying, “Twitter intends to vigorously enforce its intellectual property rights and demands that Meta’s use of Twitter’s trade secrets or other confidential information should be stopped immediately.” Due to Threads being associated with Instagram, it can take advantage of the already existing large number of users and advertising system. This may result in a reduction in Twitter’s advertising revenue. After Musk’s control over Twitter, some big companies had stopped advertising on Twitter. Musk had said that the decrease in advertisements has had a big impact on Twitter’s revenue. Apart from this, Musk had made major changes in the company. They laid off about half the staff. After this, some journalists had to face strong opposition after their Twitter accounts were banned. Regarding this, the European Union (EU) had warned of imposing restrictions on Twitter. However, Musk later withdrew this decision.

  • Samsung’s preparation to make laptops in India, impact of central government’s import restrictions

    South Korean consumer electronics company Samsung has prepared to increase manufacturing in India. The company’s smartphones are already being produced in the country. Samsung can also make laptops in its factory in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh from next month. This will give a boost to the Make in India scheme of the Central Government. Under this scheme, incentives are given for electronics manufacturing. According to a media report, Samsung has prepared to set up a new laptop manufacturing unit in the Greater Noida factory that produces smartphones. This unit will have the capacity to manufacture 60,000-70,000 laptops annually. In this report, quoting a source, it has been said that this unit will be started next month. Last month, the government had imposed licensing conditions for import of personal computers, laptops and tablets. Its objective is to increase manufacturing in the country. Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said that the new rule will ensure that reliable systems and products are used in the country. A few months ago, the government had approved the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme 2.0 with an incentive of Rs 17,000 crore to promote manufacturing of IT hardware like laptops and tablets in the country. It is expected to produce products like personal computers, servers, laptops and tablets worth about Rs 3.35 crore in six years. American iPhone maker Apple, which has a major share in the premium smartphone market, has planned to increase manufacturing in India. The company has prepared to shift a large part of its manufacturing in China to India. Recently Apple also opened two retail stores in India. These stores are getting good response. A large number of Apple’s suppliers are in China and the company is planning to reduce its dependence on China. Apple started manufacturing of iPhones in the country in 2017. The company’s iPhone 15 series smartphones, launched earlier this month, are also being produced in the country.

  • Honda Cars delivers 200 Elevate SUVs in a day in Chennai

    Honda, one of the big automobile companies, has delivered 200 units of Elevate SUV in Chennai in a day. This mid-size SUV was launched recently. Its price is Rs 10,99,900 to Rs 15,99,900 (ex-showroom, Delhi). It has been made available in four variants. The company has delivered 200 units of Elevate SUV in a mega event. More than 90 percent of its components have been locally sourced. Its manufacturing is being done in the company’s factory at Tapukara in Rajasthan. A lot of space has been given in its interior. Apart from this, Elevate has 458 liters of cargo space. It has been made available in Phoenix Orange Pearl, Obsidian Blue Pearl, Radiant Red Metallic, Platinum White Pearl, Golden Brown Metallic, Lunar Silver Metallic and Meteoroid Gray Metallic colors. Honda Elevate has a 1.5 liter 4 cylinder DOHC i-VTEC petrol engine. It generates power of 119 BHP at 6,600 rpm and torque of 145 Nm at 4,300 rpm. It has six speed manual transmission and CVT option. It competes with Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, MG Astor, Skoda Kushaq, VW Taigun, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara and Toyota Urban Cruiser. It has features like 10.25 inch touchscreen system, electric sunroof, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, 7 inch semi-digital instrument cluster, wireless charging. Apart from this, ventilated front seat, door-panel mounted ORVM, LED headlights, connected LED lights are provided. For safety, Elevate has features like six airbags, electronic stability control, hill hold assist, hill descent control, advanced driver assistance system, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist and high beam assist. Sales in the SUV category have increased rapidly in the country in the last few years. Because of this, many automobile companies are launching their models in this category. Recently, South Korea’s Hyundai launched micro SUV Exter. The waiting period for some of its variants has reached up to one year. However, for the rest of the Exter variants it is around six months. Hyundai has made it available in seven variants.
  • Preparation to launch Samsung Galaxy A05s soon, hint of triple camera unit

    South Korean smartphone maker Samsung’s Galaxy A05s may be launched soon. It may replace the Samsung Galaxy A04s introduced last year. In the last few weeks, some leaked information has been received about the specifications of Galaxy A05s. Google Play Console listing is indicating its soon launch. A media report claims that this smartphone has appeared on Google Play Console with the codename a05ssnndxx. It may have an octacore Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 SoC with 6 GB of RAM. This smartphone is listed on Google Play Console with model numbers SM-A057F, SM-A057G, SM-E145F and SM-M145F. It can be made available in green and some other colors. Its design is similar to Galaxy A04s. A circular LED flash unit is visible on its back along with a triple camera unit. Its front panel has slim side bezels and a waterdrop notch aligned in the center for the selfie camera. Its Full HD+ display can be with a resolution of 1,080 x 2,400 pixels. It may have a 4,000 mAh battery with support for 25 W fast charging. Galaxy A05s can be provided with a fingerprint sensor on the side for security. Earlier this month, Samsung launched a new color variant of Galaxy A54 5G in India. This smartphone was introduced about six months ago in three colors, Awesome Lime, Awesome Graphite and Awesome Violet. The new Awesome White color variant will be available in 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage. Its price has been kept the same as other colors of this smartphone. It can be purchased for Rs 40,999. The smartphone runs on Android 13 and features a 6.4-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and Vision Booster support. Its triple rear camera setup has a 50-megapixel primary sensor, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor and a 5-megapixel macro camera. For selfies and video calls, it has a 32-megapixel selfie camera on the front. It has 256 GB of storage which can be expanded up to 1 TB using a microSD card.
  • Luxury car makers Mercedes and Audi expect strong sales during the festive season.

    The demand for luxury cars has increased rapidly in the country in the last few years. Luxury car companies like Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus are expecting strong growth in sales during the festive season. These companies may achieve their highest volumes this year. India is becoming a major source of growth for these companies. Mercedes-Benz says that the festive season is looking better this year compared to last year. The company has started the festive season on a positive note with Onam. Mercedes has achieved its highest ever sales in India in the first half of the current year. The company has sold 8,528 units during this period. This is an increase of about 13 percent compared to the same period last year. The company has dominated the luxury car market of the country for the last several years. The launch of new and updated models has helped Mercedes in increasing the pace of sales. Apart from models with petrol and diesel engines, the company also has electric vehicles (EV). Earlier this year, the company had said that it would focus on top-end variants. The company is getting strong demand for these variants. In this category, Mercedes has vehicles like AMG SL55 Roadster, AMG GT 63 SE Performance and G-Class. Audi, one of the big companies in the luxury car market, is getting strong demand for models like A4, A6, Q3 and Q5. Audi said that in the first half of the current year the company has sold 3,474 units. This is an increase of 97 percent compared to the same period last year. Audi’s SUV sales are up 217 percent and performance cars are up nearly 127 percent. The company expects the sales momentum to continue during the festive season. Lexus also expects strong demand to continue in the luxury car market. The company has introduced limited editions of its sports coupe, LC 500h, for the festive season. It has also started booking for its new multipurpose vehicle LM. This is a new category for Lexus in the country.

  • Realme preparing to launch smartphone with periscope telephoto camera

    Chinese smartphone maker Realme may soon launch a new smartphone with periscope telephoto camera. It could be Realme GT 5 Pro or a mid-range smartphone. Recently the company launched Realme GT 5av in China. However, it is not known whether the smartphone will be brought this year or not. The company has given the teaser of the new smartphone. It has a round camera module. It shows two camera rings and a rectangular unit, which could be a periscope zoom camera. It is being said that Realme is working on a more powerful device. This could be the company’s first smartphone with a periscope telephoto camera. Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 can be given as processor in it. Recently, tipster Digital Chat Station had said in a post on messaging platform Weibo that Realme is preparing to launch a mid-range smartphone. Periscope telephoto camera can be found in it. It is likely to have better capability for photography. For the first time, the company has provided a periscope telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom in the iPhone 15 Pro Max of the iPhone 15 series launched last week by American devices maker Apple. Earlier this month, Realme launched Narzo 60x. This smartphone has a 50 megapixel primary camera. The price of 4 GB + 128 GB variant of Realme Narzo 60x is Rs 12,999 and 6 GB + 128 GB is Rs 14,499. This smartphone has been made available in green and black colors. Realme Narzo 60x sports a 6.72-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. It has octacore MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ 5G. Its 5,000 mAh battery supports 33 W fast charging. Its rear camera setup has a 50-megapixel primary camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. It has an 8-megapixel camera on the front for selfies and video calls. Realme sales have increased rapidly in the last few years. The company is getting strong demand in the mid-range segment of smartphones.
  • Apple starts sales with Made in India iPhone 15

    American devices maker Apple launched the iPhone 15 series last week. This includes iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The company has started selling these smartphones in India and other countries from September 22. This is the first time that Apple has made the iPhone 15 series smartphones made in the country available on the first day of the start of its international sales. Earlier, the company used to sell Made in India iPhones on the post-launch date. The iPhone 15 series models are being manufactured at Apple’s contract manufacturer Foxconn’s plant in Chennai. These smartphones were launched on September 12 at the company’s ‘Wonderlust’ event. Pre-orders for these started from September 15. These smartphones made in the country have been made available along with the iPhone 15 made in China before the start of sales. Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that this is an achievement for the country. He said in a post on Last year, the sale of iPhone 14 series smartphones made in India started within 10 days of their international launch. Apple plans to make India a global hub for manufacturing iPhones. India is emerging as the next big growth destination for the company. Due to weak demand in China and regulatory pressure, Apple’s suppliers are also increasing their manufacturing in the country. Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models will have to wait till the end of next month in the country. There may be a delay in the delivery of these smartphones in America and China also. Market research firm Counterpoint estimates that iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will account for about 25 percent of total iPhone 15 shipments in the country in the fourth quarter. Nabila Popal, research director at market intelligence firm IDC, said, “The premium smartphone market in India has grown rapidly. It has increased from 0.8 percent of the total market four years ago to 6.1 percent in the first half of this year. Apple has made a big contribution.” It is the largest company in the country in the segment of smartphones priced above $800.
  • Manufacturing of semiconductors will start soon in the country, Micron is setting up a plant in Gujarat.

    In the last few years, many industries are facing difficulties due to shortage of semiconductors. Due to this, production in the automobile sector has also been affected. The central government has also announced incentives for semiconductor manufacturing in the country. American company Micron Technology may soon start manufacturing semiconductors in the country. Micron Technology is preparing to set up an advanced semiconductor assembly plant in Sanand, Gujarat. Tata Projects will construct this plant. This plant will be in 93 acres. “This is the largest project under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM),” Tata Projects said. This plant is to be started by the end of next year. Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and Non-Volatile Flash Memory (NAND) will be tested and assembled in this plant of Micron Technology. Tata Projects said that this plant will be designed as per the LEED Gold Standards of Green Building Council. Electronics and Information Technology Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the construction of the country’s first semiconductor plant is starting in Gujarat. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced to provide 50 percent financial assistance from the Central Government to those setting up semiconductor manufacturing units in the country. He had said that his government has provided many facilities for the semiconductor industry. Modi said that there will be strong growth of semiconductor industry in the country. In the Semicon India conference, Modi had said that an ecosystem is being created for the semiconductor industry in the country. He had told that 300 colleges have been identified to start courses on semiconductor design. Modi had to say that behind every industrial revolution in the world were the ambitions of the people. Along with this, he had said that he believes that the reason for the fourth industrial revolution will be India’s ambitions. Reliance Industries also plans to enter semiconductor manufacturing. With this, the increasing demand for semiconductors in the country can be met. This company, which does business from energy to telecom, is in talks with foreign chipmakers for technology partnership.

  • Apple suffered a big blow due to 29 percent decline in global shipments of PC.

    Global shipments of personal computers (PC) declined by 29 percent in the first quarter. The main reasons behind this are weak demand, excess inventory and uncertainty about the state of the economy. Due to this, American company Apple, which manufactures Mac computers, has suffered a big loss. Market research firm IDC reports that global shipments of PC declined to 5.69 crore in the first quarter of this year. It was Rs 8.02 crore in the same period last year. In the last quarter of last year, these shipments had declined by 28.1 percent on a year-on-year basis. Apple’s shipments declined the most in the first quarter by about 40.5 percent. The decline in shipments for Dell was 31 percent. Apart from this, Lenovo, Asustek Computer and HP have also faced decline in shipments in the first quarter. Apple had said in February that sales of its Mac computers had increased rapidly due to work from home during the pandemic. There has been a 29 percent decline in value in the last quarter on a year-on-year basis. IDC said, “The decline in demand has given device makers an opportunity to make changes in the supply chain. Many companies are exploring the possibility of increasing production outside China.” There is a possibility of slowdown in the economies of big countries. Financial crisis in some big banks and increase in inflation may hinder growth and investment. However, iPhone sales have been good for Apple. The number and value of iPhones made in India has increased in the last year. Apple is shifting production from China to diversify its supply chain and due to this the production of the company’s devices has increased in India. Recently, Counterpoint reported that shipments of iPhones manufactured in India increased by 65 percent last year on a year-on-year basis. Apart from this, the value of iPhone has increased by 162 percent. Last year, Apple’s share in the total shipments of smartphones from India was about 25 percent. About 85 percent of the iPhones sold worldwide are manufactured in China. However, this may reduce due to Apple’s efforts to shift its manufacturing out of China.