Why this year’s festive season sale sucks for mobile phone shoppers
Intro
Amazon is running deals under “Great Indian Festival” and Flipkart is running its sales campaign under the banner “Big Billion Day”. If there is anything “Great” or “Big” about these deals, it is definitely the prices of phones.
The price of phone has gone up so much. Surely, you would have felt the same. If not, congratulations, you are in upper class.
If you don’t believe me, just take a look at this report by Economic Times – _Online mobile sales may not ring loud this Navratri._
According to AIMRA, average selling prices across major brands such as Apple, Samsung, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi are now around ₹35,000-37,000, allowing retailers to report marginal value growth despite falling volumes. The association represents more than 150,000 retail stores.
Today, 70-80% of retail sales are driven by consumer financing. Budget-conscious consumers are increasingly turning to refurbished units, second-hand devices or simply repairing their existing phones, impacting retail volumes.
If there is anything you learn from this piece by Economic Times, it is that prices of phones have gone up a lot and the consumers are not able to afford it on their own and they are resorting to financing.
Price of my pendrive
Last year I bought a pendrive-SANDISK Ultra Flair 128GB, USB 3.0, Flash Drive, Upto 150MB/s R that cost me only 800 Rs . Now, the same pendrive costs 2300 Rs . If you don’t believe me, just take a look at the Price Tracker website for this product – click here. Their buy score is 19 out of 100. It doesn’t tell you how much the price has gone up. Just take a look at their Price History chart that says the price has gone up from around 869 Rs in October 2026 to 2089 Rs as on 19th October 2026.
Price of my Phone
When I bought my phone Poco m2 Pro in December 2020, it cost me only 10500 Rs after 3000 Rs off on exchange with my old phone.
Having looked at the price jump in pendrivs, I wanted to answer this question:
How much would it cost now to buy a phone launched in 2026 with equivalent hardware specs of Poco m2 Pro?
Of course, no phones come with the old Snapdragon 720 processor. Even budget friendly phones now come with 5G enabled.
So, I decided to look up a phone launched in 2026 with FHD display resolution, 6GB RAM and 33W Charging capacity.
After extensively searching for a phone launched in 2025 & 2026 with these features, there is no phone I found on Flipkart or Amazon having these features that cost less than 20K Rs.
Of Course, they have updated Processor specs and there are no 4G phones available now. But, it doesn’t stop there. Why is IPS LCD Display relegated to entry-level phones? Why does IPS LCD Display not come with phones with slightly higher specs like 6GB RAM or 33W Charging Capacity?
Though AMOLED is better suited for mobile phones, I understand that AMOLED Display can be 2X more expensive than a comparable IPS LCD Display. Therefore, it is only available in mid-range to premium segments.
According to Gadxy:
Display type — AMOLED/OLED costs 2–4× more than LCD.
This doesn’t mean IPS LCD users shouldn’t get to experience 6GB RAM or 33W Charging Capacity.
I found 2 Phones – Ai+ Nova 2 5g and Mivi One 5g offering the features IPS LCD Display and 6GB RAM. But, they don’t have 33W charging capacity, rather only 18W charging capacity. Also, their display is not FHD, rather only HD+.
Not everyone is obsessed with Camera or Display of a phone. Some people just want a phone that is focused on functionality and ease to use and easy to maintain. That is where IPS LCD RAM or 33W Charging Capacity come into picture and they are least bothered about Display, whether it is IPS LCD or AMOLED.
Xiaomi and its brands like Poco and Redmi used to serve the market that AI+, Mivi, Boltt and Lava are serving . Xiaomi focused mainly on budget conscious customers offering feature-rich entry-level to mid-range phones. Now, it feels like Xiaomi has abandoned its loyal customer base that got them where they are now and started focusing on more affluent customers who have unrestricted budget.
Not to just pick on Xiaomi, any other brand that got their start and made it very big in Indian market like Realme and Oppo are not very different from Xiaomi. They have all abandoned their loyal customers
What’s driving up all these prices?
I am not an expert on mobile phones market, nor am I expert in macro-economics behind the price rises of phones. But, it has become obvious that these higher prices are driven by demands to set up AI data centres.
Average smartphone prices rose 16% in India and 15% globally during the first half of 2026 as surging demand for AI data centers absorbed massive global manufacturing capacity for DRAM and NAND memory chips. This component shortage severely squeezed the budget segment, prompting steep price increases and a sharp drop in entry-level shipments.
Some of it is also due to the depreciation of Indian Currency leading to any imports becoming more expensive. Over the last 12 months, the Indian Rupee (INR) has fallen by approximately 8.06% against the U.S. dollar, dropping from around the 87–88 range to trade near 94.82 to 94.92 per USD. That one percentage point difference between the rise of phone prices in India and Globally can might be explained by this currency depreciation.
