According to recent reports, the Indian government intends to mandate that mobile phone brands permit the removal of pre-installed apps and to require mandatory evaluation of significant operating system changes under the planned new security policy.
The law change may delay product launch in India, the second-largest mobile phone market in the world. The result of this action will be a loss for mobile phone brands. The likes of Samsung, Vivo, Apple and others will have losses because they pre-install a lot of undeletable apps. However, the No 1. mobile phone brand in India, Xiaomi, will probably be safe. Recall that in the new MIUI 14 system, Xiaomi has only eight (8) apps that users can not delete. These are all essential apps. The only apps on MIUI 14 that users can not delete are phone, SMS, contacts, file management, system settings, app store, browser, and the camera app.
Internal reports also reveal that the new law will ask mobile phone brands to offer uninstall options and require certified labs of the Bureau of Indian Standards to test new models for compliance.
Indian government to test mobile phones
The Indian govt is also thinking about making it essential to test every major OS upgrade before pushing it out to users. The paper also reveals that the Indian govt has agreed to give mobile phone brands one year to adhere to the new rules after they take effect—a date that has not yet been set. Chinese brands dominate India’s rapidly growing mobile phone industry. According to Counterpoint, Samsung of South Korea accounts for 20% of sales while Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo claim over 50% with Xiaomi clinching almost half of the value. Apple struggles in the Indian mobile phone market with just 3%. While EU rules demand that pre-installed apps be removed before they can be used, they lack the review process India is seeking.
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An industry executive claims that the govt must discern between pre-installed apps that are vital to the user experience and those that are not when enforcing censor rules. Another industry executive voiced worry that further testing will extend the time needed before devices are approved for sale. At the moment, once every 21 weeks, the govt. groups assess the safety of phones. That is a big hurdle to a company’s go-to-market plan, according to the executive.
The Indian govt has in the past blocked a number of Chinese mobile phone brands. This has led to a certain reduction in sales, but this is certainly not enough for India. This is coming from a couple of experts in the mobile phone business. They’re not just keen on copying the growth of China’s industry and tech sectors.
More hostile market
Due to the legal issues that market leader, Xiaomi has been dealing with for the majority of this year, Chinese mobile phone brands in India are operating in a market that is getting harder for them to do business in.
Xiaomi allegedly sent money abroad “under the guise of royalty” payments. Since then, India’s federal financial crime bureau, the Enforcement Directorate, froze $676 million from Xiaomi’s India bank accounts in April.
The Chinese corporation claimed the seizure of assets had “essentially ended” its operations in the nation. However, an Indian court earlier this month refused to remove the freeze.
Xiaomi is not the only company under regulatory inquiry; it has denied any crime. Vivo, Oppo, and Huawei are just a few of the firms under similar pressure.
In July, Vivo’s offices were seized on charges of bank fraud. The Indian authorities also charged Oppo with cheating $551 million in customs duty. Atul Pandey, Partner at Khaitan & Co and expert in cross-border trade and regulatory issues, stated that the Xiaomi case is a part of the Indian govt’s general probe.
