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Homegrown smartphone maker and electronics Major Micromax is gearing up to unveil India’s first Android Oreo Go-based smartphone. Christened as ‘Bharat Go,’ this smartphone will hit the Indian market by January end. However, Micromax has refused to divulge pricing and other important specifications about the soon-to-be-launched smartphone.
Android Oreo GO as a mobile OS is primarily designed by Google to work well on entry-level smartphones. The entry-level smartphones, by definition, are the ones that work on 512 RAM or memory power. Thus Android Oreo GO can be termed as the younger cousin of the original Android OS, which has been designed to work well on medium-to-high end smartphones.
Despite being entry-level software, Android Oreo GO isn’t bereft of some sought-after features. This includes battery usage optimization, picture-in-picture support for video, Bluetooth etc. Android Oreo GO came into prominence for the first time after Google showed a teaser of the software at its annual developer conference Google I/O in May. The tech giant officially released the software into the market in December last year.
Besides Micromax, other homegrown majors like Lava, Karbonn and Intex are also in a beeline to introduce their own respective models powered by Android Oreo Go in the ensuing months.
Over the last two and half years, all key domestic players including Micromax have seen their fortunes declining owing to tough competition from Chinese manufacturers like Oppo and Vivo. In fact, such has been the slide in fortunes for all homegrown players that today more than 50% of India’s smartphone market is captured by Chinese players. A situation that was starkly opposite when Micromax was registering high growth from 2012 to 2015. During those heydays, the Gurugram based company was considered as the immediate rival of Samsung and was also touted to soon become India’s no 1 smartphone player.
The current market projections certainly make this distant prediction appear a little over the top, with Micromax today appearing as a pale shadow of its once former self. However, the Gurugram Company has not yet lost all hopes. Over the last one year, it has launched quite a few new models in a bid to revive its sliding fortunes, and launch of ‘Bharat Go’ seems to be a step in that direction. However, if we were to take hints from current market conditions, Micromax’s path to lost glory seems to be pretty long one.
