Flipkart enters Indian smartphone market with Billion Capture+

E-commerce major Flipkart has announced its foray into the hyper-competitive mobile phone market in India with the launch of its Billion Capture+ brand of smartphones. Smartphone is one of the biggest categories for Flipkart, which is locked in a fierce battle with US-based Amazon for leadership in the booming Indian e-commerce market. Flipkart today said two variants of its ‘Made For India smartphone, priced at Rs 10,990 onwards will be available from November 15.

Billion — launched earlier this year — is one of the private labels owned by Flipkart under which it sells mixer grinders, irons, T-shirts, backpacks and cookware. “The features in the Capture+ too have been derived from deep data-mining of millions of Flipkart customers’ reviews,” Sachin Bansal, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Flipkart, said in a statement. Flipkart’s smartphones will compete with devices from the stables of Samsung, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Micromax and others.

Interestingly, Flipkart is an exclusive online partner for many mobile phone brands launched in the country. India is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets globally. According to research firm IDC, sales grew by 3.7 per cent to 28 million units in April-June 2017 compared to the previous quarter. Samsung continued to dominate the market with 24 per cent market share. Xiaomi followed in the tally with 17 per cent share, while Vivo, Oppo and Lenovo had 13 per cent, 8 per cent and 7 per cent share, respectively.

“Our extensive research of Indian smartphone buyers revealed major pain points of battery, camera, storage etc,” Flipkart Category Head (Billion) Hrishikesh Thite said. He added that Billion Capture+ was developed keeping those in mind and delivering it at a “compelling price point”.

Billion Capture+ will feature 5.5-inch display. The two variants – 3GB RAM/32GB internal memory will be priced at Rs 10,999, while 4GB RAM/64GB internal memory will be available at Rs 12,999. The Billion Capture+ smartphone will be supported by F1 Info Solutions, which is now owned by Flipkart.