Can Micromax Canvas Infinity Compete Against Mid-Range Mi Smartphones?

• Micromax has launched Canvas Infinity with bezel-less design at an affordable price;
• The company badly needs a hit as it has been struggling for quite some time;
• We try to figure out whether Micromax Canvas Infinity will be able to compete against mid-range Mi smartphones or not.

Since last few years things are not going well for Micromax. The company which once used to set the rules of Indian budget smartphone market and used to give stiff competition to the likes of Samsung has all of a sudden found itself in a difficult position after entry of a few Chinese smartphone makers, most prominent among whom is Xiaomi, which is also known simply as “Mi” and “Apple of China.” 

That Chinese Apple is the root cause of troubles for Micromax. By offering devices with great specs and premium looks at a fraction of cost Mi has steadily hijacked the budget smartphone market of India ever since its entry.

And since that market used to be the chief source of revenue for Micromax, they’re in big trouble. The company tried to bounce back by launching Dual 5, a high-end smartphone, but unfortunately that attempt also ended up in vein. If Micromax has to survive and turn things around, it needs something big.

So with hopes of a breakthrough they’re launching a device that makes the Infinity display affordable. The device is called Micromax Canvas Infinity and it’s different in the way that it’s first Indian smartphone to launch with a narrow-bezel front, and that too at a highly competitive price point.

Since edge-to-edge displays have become quite popular these days, the company is hoping that maybe by launching a device with one of them at affordable price it can get the breakthrough that it needs. Will it be successful in achieving that? Let’s try to figure out.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4: The Main Roadblock

No matter at what price Micromax launches its products, it finds itself competing against an already successful Mi device.

Canvas Infinity is no different – at price of Rs. 9,999 INR, the device will be competing directly against already popular and successful Redmi Note 4. Can it stick against that wildly successful beast? Let’s figure out:

You see the problem? That’s what may spell some serious trouble for Micromax Canvas Infinity. Not only it lags behind Redmi Note 4 in terms of processing power, the advantage of large display also gets washed away with less resolution offered by the device.

Since price of both devices is exactly same and there also doesn’t exist any other major differences, there’re only two things that can pull the buyers towards Canvas Infinity:

1. The 16mp front-facing selfie camera, which based on first impressions is capable of taking great photos even under poor lighting conditions, or;
2. The obsession for cool factor of Infinity display, even at the cost of resolution.

While selfie camera is still an important factor that can attract some sizable customer base towards this device, the other reason is likely to attract only a few.

There’ll be very few smartphone buyers in the Indian budget smartphone market who will prefer Infinity display even at the cost of resolution.

That said, things may get a little different if calls for the boycott of Chinese products gain a significant amount of support within the country due to some Chinese misadventure (which is still very unlikely to happen). Until then the device is likely to be considered only by a handful of buyers.

Needless to say, it’s one of the biggest gambles by Micromax till date. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.