Budget 2021: Imposing 25 duty on local mobile phone manufacturing might increase smartphone prices in India

The Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the union budget for the year 2021 earlier today. While there was only a little announced in the tech sector, she did mention that the government has revised the manufacturing duty on "some parts" for mobile manufacturing. 

She mentioned that local manufacturing of electronics has grown exponentially in the country, and India is now exporting mobile phones and chargers to other markets. The sector, until Budget 2021, was exempted from taxation, but it will now have a 2.5% duty. 

While Sitharaman did not share the details of the "parts" in her speech, it could include sub-parts like a circuit board, camera module, connectors and others. These specialised components require specific sub-parts which are imported from other nations by manufacturers. From now on, the manufacturers will now face a 2.5% customs duty on them. 

The government has also increased taxation for circuit boards and plastic moulding of mobile phone chargers from 10% to 15% in duty. Other parts used in mobile chargers which were exempted earlier will now face 10% of duty in India. Not just chargers, parts and sub-parts required to make Lithium-ion batteries will lose the exemption and face the 2.5% fees.

Does this mean a rise in mobile phone prices?

It is too early to estimate the impact of the increase in manufacturing duty on the final price of mobile phones. Since mobile phone manufacturers keep the margins thin to keep the cost low, they are quite likely to find it tricky to adjust the added cost to keep the retail price consistent. A feasible way for mobile manufacturers to cut costs could follow Apple's footsteps, and removing the charger from the box. 

Is the revision only for the mobile manufacturing sector?

The mobile manufacturing sector is not alone in facing the revision in taxation. The electronics sector in India is also set to face a 2.5% hike in customs, including components like compressors of refrigerators and air conditioners, insulated wires and transformer components.

Also, parts required for manufacturing LED lights and LED fixtures will see a jump from 5% to 10%. The biggest hike, however, will be for solar inverters and lamps, rising from 5% to 20% and 15%, respectively. 

Government of India's schemes to promote local manufacturing has brought major manufacturing companies like Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron to set their shops in the country. The government announced PLI (Production Linked Incentive) schemes to invite smartphone manufacturers to the country, which worked in the favour of many big companies like Xiaomi, Apple, Oppo and Samsung, who shifted their manufacturing force to India. Now all that's left is to see how the manufacturing industry reacts to the new rates announced in Budget 2021 speech.

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OnePlus Nord N1 5G budget phone tipped to launch later this year

OnePlus Nord N1 5G could be the next budget smartphone from the company succeeding the Nord N10, according to the latest leak online. The OnePlus Nord N10 and Nord N100 were both launched as budget phones under the OnePlus Nord series. The Nord N10 and N100 have been made for the US and the European markets, so it's unlikely that we will see the Nord N1 end up in India.

As per a post on Voice by popular tipster Max Jambor, OnePlus could be working on the successor to the Nord N10 5G that could be called the OnePlus Nord N1 5G. The tipster does not reveal any specific details about the Nord N1 5G but since the Nord N10 and N100 were unveiled late in 2020, we expect the company to follow a similar launch timeline. 

Let's forget about the OnePlus 9 Series for a sec and see what else is in development! https://t.co/V6Bk8SYDux pic.twitter.com/br3J6uKT7d

— Max Jambor (@MaxJmb) February 1, 2021

The OnePlus Nord debuted on July 21 as a mid-range smartphone and subsequently expanded into a more affordable budget category with the Nord N10 and Nord N100. The latest leak indicates that the upcoming Nord N1 will succeed the Nord N10.

The Nord N10 features a Full HD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate and is powered by the Snapdragon 690 processor with an octa-core CPU. It has a quad-camera setup on the back that is headlined by a 64MP primary camera along with a 16MP selfie camera. The Nord N10 is equipped with a 4,300mAh battery that supports 30W fast charging.  

OnePlus is rumoured to launch OnePlus 9 series sometime by mid-March. As per the latest leaks and speculations, the upcoming line-up is expected to feature the standard OnePlus 9, OnePlus 9 Pro and OnePlus 9 Lite affordable phone. Here’s everything you need to know about OnePlus 9, OnePlus 9 Lite and OnePlus 9 Pro.

 

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Steam Game Festival February Edition to Have Over 500 Playable Game Demos

Steam Game Festival will kick off from February 3 and end on February 9. It will have over 500 free game demos for players to try out.

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Asus ROG Phone 5 spotted on TENAA with pictures and key specs

The Asus ROG Phone 5 has been spotted on TENAA, MIIT and multiple other certification websites, hinting at its imminent launch in the coming months. Asus had also released a poster teasing the launch of the next ROG Phone in the lineup which could be called the ROG Phone 5. The ROG Phone 5 succeeds the ROG Phone 3 launched in 2020 with Asus skipping the number 4 from the series as it is considered unlucky in many Asian cultures.

The ROG Phone 5 has been spotted on TENAA, MIIT and other similar certification websites with the model number Asus_I005DA. A listing with the same model number also appeared previously, revealing the key features of the phone. However, the TENAA listing also reveals the reference pictures of the smartphone in question. 

As per the TENAA and MIIT listing, the ROG Phone 5 is shown to feature the AniMe dot matrix display that first debuted on the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. It is unclear whether the entirety of the rear panel on the ROG Phone 5 will be fitted with AniMe dot matrix but only a part of the back panel will likely have that functionality. With AniMe dot matrix, users can customize the screen to display any image or text message. 

The ROG Phone 5 is slated to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor and will have 64MP triple cameras on the back. As seen in the images, the ROG Phone 5 seems to have a triple camera setup on the back, housed in a similarly designed camera module as the previous generation.

Additionally, we also found out that the ROG Phone 5 could feature a 6.78-inch Full HD+ AMOLED screen that supports 144Hz high refresh rate. There’s also the presence of dual 3,000mAh battery cells that totals to 6,000mAh of power with support for 65W fast charging. 

There’s no official word on the launch of the ROG Phone 5, however, the new phone could launch sometime at the end of March or in April.

 

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Black Shark 4 to sport 667-inch display: Report

Black Shark has been teasing the Black Shark 4 some time now but little is known about the specifications of the smartphone. The Black Shark 4 has recently been certified by China's TENAA highlighting some specifications of the smartphone. Some of these specifications are known, while others are new. The TENAA listing brings to light the model code of the Black Shark 4 which is SHARK KSR-A0.

Black Shark 4 specifications

According to the TENAA listing, the Black Shark 4 will pack a 6.67-inch display. While the resolution of the display isn't known, it is speculated to have a 2400x1080-pixel resolution. 

The company has already teased the battery and charging capabilities we can expect in the Black Shark 4. The new Black Shark 4 comes with a 4,500mAh battery. The phone will also support 120W fast charging. The teaser also says that the phone can charge completely in less than 15 mins. 

The Black Shark 4 is expected to be 10.3mm thick and support 5G networks. The smartphone is also expected to have 8GB RAM and run on the Snapdragon 888 SoC. 

If you are in the market for a phone that's designed for gamers, then you can also check out the Asus ROG Phone 3. 

The Asus ROG Phone 3 is built featuring a metal-glass sandwich design and measures 9.8 millimetres in thickness, weighing in at 240 grams. It features a 6.59-inch Full HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) resolution AMOLED screen with a 144Hz high refresh rate and HDR10+ certification. It is embedded with an in-display fingerprint sensor for fast unlock speeds and is topped with a layer of Gorilla Glass 6.

The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus chipset with an octa-core CPU and Adreno 650 GPU. This is further paired with upto 12GB RAM LPDDR5 and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage options to choose from.

The ROG Phone 3 comes with a triple camera setup that consists of a primary 64MP camera with an f/1.8 aperture, a 13MP ultra-wide-angle camera with 125-degree field-of-view and a 5MP macro camera. On the front, there is a 24MP selfie camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The rear cameras are capable of recording in 8K UHD at 30FPS and 4K UHD at up to 60FPS with support for OIS and EIS. You can read our review of the Asus ROG Phone 3 here. 

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FAUG rating on Google Play Store drops down to 35 stars

It has been barely a week since the launch of FAUG and the popularity of the gaming is taking a nosedive. As of writing, the game has a rating of 3.5 stars on the Google Play Store, with 4,68,278 reviews. This drop is quite evident when one takes into consideration that the game had a rating of 3.9 within a day of launch.

How FAUG competitors fare

This low-rating hits even harder when one takes into account competing games like Garena Free Fire and Call of Duty: Mobile. Both these games have ratings of 4.3 and 4.5 stars, respectively. It should also be noted that both these games have a much higher number of reviews as they have been available for years.

What users say about FAUG

The poor rating of FAUG boils down to the fact that the hype surrounding the game was almost palpable before launch. But the final product was not up to the level players expected.

One Google user, Neelabh Chatterjee, gave the game a rating of 2 stars and commented, “Expectations and the reality are different things. But even so there has to be some things which must be done properly. Presently the game does not have guns. Ok I get it. But if you are going to go for a hand-to-hand combat it still must be better than this. Moves and sequences include mashing on a single button. Block works like 1 out 5 times. When in combat there are weird glitches like fighting direction suddenly changes. Not to mention that parts of the game are repetitive. Hope it improves.” As of writing, this comment was marked by 239 users as helpful.

Even in our review, we noted that while the idea behind the game was good, the execution was lacking. We found movement to be quite limited, while gameplay was quite repetitive to say the least. You can check out our detailed review here.

nCore Games also plans to release a multiplayer component to the game. However, before that, the developers will definitely need to improve the core gameplay. We have also jotted down five things the devs can do to make the game better. Click here to take a look at that.

If you want to download the game and try it out for yourself, then you should check this out.

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Heres how you can get your hands on a Microsoft Xbox Series X for free

The new generation of consoles from Microsoft and Sony may have launched, but getting hold of them is as easy as catching a greased up pig. However, it looks like there is a way users can try and get their hands on the Xbox Series X (review). Microsoft and Taco Bell India have partnered to announce the #CravingMeetsGaming weekly lucky draw. As part of the draw, Taco Bell will give out 15 Xbox Series X consoles. There are also giveaways of a 6-month membership to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

How to partake to win a free Xbox Series X

In order to partake in the lucky draw, users will have to download and register on the Taco Bell app and place an order through delivery. This could be via the app or through food-delivery aggregators, or even takeaway, or dine-in. Do keep in mind that the order should be at least Rs 59. Doing so will make them eligible for the #CravingMeetsGaming weekly draw.

Gaurav Burman, Director, Burman Hospitality Private Limited, Taco Bell’s Master Franchise Partner in India stated, “We are delighted to start the new year with a unique offer for our customers. Gaming has become hugely popular in India, and we are excited to have 60 Xbox Series X consoles to give away to our loyal fans. We look forward to welcoming our customers to our stores or encourage them to order from our newly launched app to enjoy our signature menu items and also increase their chances of winning!”

To recall, the Microsoft Xbox Series X and the more affordable Series S were launched on November 10. However, the units went out of stock almost as soon as pre-orders were made available. As of writing, both the consoles are out of stock on Amazon and Flipkart. Even the Sony PlayStation 5 has the same problem with the console out of stock with most manufacturers. However, it should be noted that Sony’s console is set to launch in India on February 2.

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