4G smartphones could cost you just Rs 3000 by year-end

By the end of this year, prices of 4G smartphones are likely to drop to as low as Rs 3,000. This would enable consumers to access high-speed broadband, while also laying the path for the next battle that India's biggest telecom operators would witness.

Making good use of the opportunity will be India’s telecom leader Bharti Airtel, , which is speedily rolling out 4G, followed by rivals Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. All these companies are hurrying up their services because Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm is expected to make its debut by the end of this year.

To get an idea of how cheap could 4G smartphones be, take the example of Phicomm , a little-known Chinese handset player that has become the first handset maker to offer a 4G smartphone for Rs 3,999, including discounts. Not only this, India's No. 2 smartphone brand Micromax has also said that it would launch entry-level 4G phones over the next few months. Micromax’s entry level 3G smartphones cost around Rs 3500.

This sharp drop in prices of 4G headsets can be accredited to two factors. First, handset makers have realised the intense competition in 4G handsets that will take place in the near future. Secondly, since 4G technology and devices have been widely adopted in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and other markets, chip manufacturers now have an opportunity to produce components at much lower costs, which would automatically bring down the production costs.

India's 4G smartphone segment is led by Samsung, followed by Lenovo, Xiaomi, Micromax and Apple, respectively.

Before the commercial launch of Reliance Jio 4G, Reliance Retail, Jio's sister company, has also launched 4G smartphones under the LYF brand.

As of now, most of the 4G phones currently in India support FD-LTE, using the 1800 Mhz band and TD-LTE, on the 2300 MHz band. Both these technologies are supported by Jio and Airtel, giving them an edge over competitors.

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