Over the last couple of years you would be forgiven for believing that Micromax was a company on steroids. The company saw tremendous growth in India and destroyed all the home grown competition. It also gave the global giant Samsung a run for its money. But then in 2014 it saw a very new and uncanny breed of competitors entering the Indian smartphone market. This was the rise of online-only brands such as Xiaomi and OnePlus.
Micromax reacted swiftly and put together a new brand of its own that would tackle this specific breed of competitors. This new brand was the Yu brand of smartphones, led by Yu Televentures. The first offering from the Yu brand was the Yu Yureka.
More from iSpyPrice: Read the Benchmarking results and performance review of the Yu Yureka here.
The second smartphone under the Yu brand was the Yu Yuphoria. With these two smartphones Micromax was trying to tap into the budget phone market in India and the attempt was to be perceived as direct competition to Xiaomi and its budget phone products. If nothing else, Micromax did succeed in putting the Yu brand on, the highly saturated, smartphone market map in India.
More from iSpyPrice: Is the Euphoria surrounding the Yuphoria here to stay?
Less than two weeks ago Micromax introduced the Yu Yureka Plus. That’s 3 smartphones in pretty much the same price range. Three smartphones launched by a new brand inside a year. And today it is reducing the price of the Yu Yureka Plus. Why the sudden drop in price, you ask? Whether this was a strategic decision or whether market heat compelled them to slash prices, we will likely not know the answer to this question until their CEO retires and writes a book. However, what we can do is assess the situation based on the facts available.
The fact is that Micromax has seen a drop in its smartphone market share this year. Despite the euphoria surrounding the Yu brand Micromax’s market share had slipped from 17.8 percent to 16.2 percent over a quarter. Micromax has also tried to adopt the online sales model that brands such as Xiaomi and OnePlus have championed, but does it need to do that? At the moment we can only speculate that the Yu brand is Micromax’s experimental toy and how well it does will probably influence Mircomax’s overall sales model. Even if that is the case, we are not expecting Micromax to completely realign its sales efforts to an online-only model anytime soon.
More from iSpyPrice: Get hold of the brand new OnePlus Two
Let’s a take a quick look at the latest Yu phone, the Yu Yureka Plus.
Specs on the Yu Yureka Plus
While the specs are certainly impressive for a smartphone that will now cost Rs. 8,999, Micromax will do well to make a profit off this smartphone. If you are not a fan of the Yu brand this phone may not be for you, but based purely on the specs the Yu Yureka Plus is worth a shot.
More from iSpyPrice: Buy a brand new Yu Yureka Plus today
Steroids or no steroids Micromax’s Yu brand has made enough of a splash in the Indian smartphone market to demand a second look. And yes, the Yu Yureka Plus is a beautiful phone to own, if looks are your top priority while shopping that is.