India's 5G story may be riddled with many imponderables. But that is not holding back Indian consumers from going for 5G-enabled smartphones. There is heightened consumer excitement and optimism around 5G smartphones. So much so, 5G-readiness is one of the factors in Indian consumers' choice of premium phones (over Rs 25,00), according to a study by the market research firm CyberMedia Research (CMR).
5G has enabled explosive growth in video content creation, especially short-form videos, amongst consumers in China and Western Europe (the places where 5G is available). More than four in every five 5G smartphone users are satisfied with overall 5G usage, the report said.
Close to 83% of India consumers said they would want their next smartphone to be 5G ready. They said, according to the CMR report, 5G will give a huge boost to user-generated content, especially on short form video platforms.
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5G will give thrust to short-form videos
The CMR study report, 'The 5G Future Now', sees the narrative around what 5G smartphones posit for the consumer, the early benefits that 5G users are seeing, and what 5G intenders are expecting from 5G.
For this report, CMR interviewed 5,000 consumers in the age groups of 18 to 35, spread across India (3,000), China (1,000) and Western Europe (1,000).
According to Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, “5G will positively impact the way we create, communicate, collaborate, consume content and share our experiences with our loved ones and the world through primarily, a video-led medium. In global markets, 5G smartphones are fuelling video content creation and consumption, video calling, as well as use cases such as mobile gaming, among others. I believe that when 5G becomes available in India within the next two years, it will give a considerable thrust to the increasing trend of short-form video creation and sharing, amongst millennials.”
CMR’s estimates have it that 2.2 to 2.5 million smartphones were shipped in India in 2020.
Some other findings from CMR report
In India, 5G readiness is one of the top three considerations amongst premium smartphone users (83%), just behind battery life (84%) and smartphone brand imagery (84%).
Amongst early 5G adopters and 5G intenders in India, there is a strong appeal to upgrade to 5G-capable smartphones.
Nearly three in every five existing premium smartphone users are definitely seeking to upgrade to 5G ready smartphones.
In India, amongst early 5G smartphone adopters and tech intenders, OPPO scores the highest (81%), followed by Samsung (79%).
In technology-developed markets, such as China and Europe where 5G is already available, 5G is a key smartphone purchase driver (60%), just behind battery life (67%).
Some of the early benefits that early 5G users are seeing include better quality video calls (66%), faster downloads (59%), and ability to stream UHD videos (55%). 5G is significantly faster than 4G. For consumers, 5G translates into superior speeds, while uploading, sharing on social media, or in streaming better quality videos, without any lags.
Via: CMR
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