Online mobile sales may not ring loud this Navratri

Kolkata: India’s festive smartphone market is staring at one of its sharpest-ever downturns, with unit sales falling 16% year-on-year during ecommerce Navratri sales, according to market tracker Counterpoint Research.

Lower discounts and regular price hikes by handset makers to offset higher chip costs is squeezing affordability despite ecommerce platforms attracting record consumer traffic. Average online festive discounts on smartphones have narrowed to 10-25% from 25-40% during last year’s sales, Counterpoint said. This comes amid a 35-40% surge in smartphone prices on average, triggered by a two- to three-fold surge in memory chip prices, rupee depreciation and higher freight costs.