The growing anti-China sentiment in India may hurt Chinese smartphone makers hard as a survey on Friday revealed that four in ten respondents said that they will not buy Made-in-China products or smartphones from Chinese brands. Overall, more than half of the respondents from India have a negative attitude towards Made-in-China products or Chinese smartphone brands, according to the Global Consumer Lens study by Counterpoint Research.
This survey was conducted before the India-China faceoff at Line of Actual Control in the Galwan valley of Ladakh. The researchers explored consumer sentiment about smartphones manufactured in China as the Wuhan region was the starting point of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The study was conducted across seven major smartphone markets – the UK, India, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the US. The anti-China sentiment is highest among Indian consumers, said the study.
Similarly, about one-fifth of respondents from the US preferred not to buy Made-in-China products even though in the era of globalisation, it is difficult to label a product as "Chinese" as its components are sourced across different regions.
The research showed that in India, 16 per cent Indian consumers want to cut spending by 20 per cent when making their next smartphone purchase. Respondents planning to wait before buying are the highest in India -- 61 per cent.
The research found similar intentions in Spain and Italy where 58 per cent and 56 per cent of respondents, respectively, planned to wait longer before replacing their smartphones. In the US, the number intending to delay buying was 41 per cent. Germany had the fewest respondents planning to delay purchasing – 34 per cent.
Consumers intending to cut their future smartphone purchase budget by 20 per cent or more are highest in Spain (27 per cent) and Italy (25 per cent), followed by the US (24 per cent).
In India, half the respondents are intending to spend between Rs 10,000-Rs 20,000, said the study. The survey which involved over 1,000 respondents from India was conducted across different countries from mid of May to the first week of June.
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