1.

1 BACKDROPS

In most of the countries, a large majority says that mobile phones have been good for them
personally, and may also say mobile phones positively impact education and the economy.
Mobile phone users also overwhelmingly agree that their phones help them to stay in touch with
faraway friends and family and keep them informed of the latest news and information. Apart
from that they also say mobile phones have had a positive impact on society. Regardless of the
type of mobile phone people use- basic, feature or smart- most have similar views about hoe
their lives and societies have been impacted by their devices.

Meanwhile the users have mixed views about upsides and downsides of their phones, even more
divided when assessing their reliance or lack thereof on their mobile phones. And now it has
been moved to the situation whether they could or couldn’t live without mobile phones. There
are prominent and consistent differences by age; users ages 50 and older are significantly more
likely than users ages 18 to 29 to believe their phones help them save time, while its true that
younger adults use smartphones and social media at higher rates than older adults. The current
study is focused on the consumers preference towards smartphones during covid-19.

1.2 MEANING

A smart phone is wireless handheld device that allows users to make calls and text messages,
among other features. The earliest generation of mobile phones could only make and receive
calls. Today’s mobile phones, however are packed with many additional features, such as web
browsers, games, cameras, video plays and navigation systems. While smartphones were initially
used by business users, they have become a common choice for consumers as well. Due to
advancements in technology, modern smartphones are smaller and cheaper than earlier devices.
Since smartphones have a wide range of functionality, they require advanced software, similar to
a computer operating system.

When the first mobile phones were introduced , their only function was to make calls, and they
were so bulky it was impossible to carry them in a pocket. Later, mobile phones belonging to the
Global system for Mobile Communication (GSM) network were capable of sending and
receiving text messages. As these devices evolved, they became smaller and more features were

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added, such as multimedia messaging service(MMS), which allowed users to send and receive
images.

** The first hand held cell phone was demonstrated by John Francis Mitchell and Dr.
Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighting around 4.4 pounds (2 kg.)

** The IBM Simon was the first phone with a touchscreen in 1992, it is also referred
as the first “smartphone”

Since smartphones have a wide range of functionality, they require advanced software,
similar to a computer operating system. The smartphone software handles phone calls, runs
applications, and provides configuration options for the user. Most smartphones include a USB
connection, which allows users to sync data with their computers and update their smartphone
software.

1.3 DEFINITION
• “ A portable telephone with access to a cellular radio system so it can be used over a wide
area, without a physical connection to a network is called a smartphone.”
• “ A smartphone is a type of mobile phone that can perform many of the operations that a
computer does, such as accessing the internet.”
• “ A mobile telephone with computer features that may enable it to interact with
computerized systems, sends e-mails, and access the web.”

1.3 SCOPE OF STUDY

• The study is on the leading brand preference for smartphone and the attitude of consumers
towards the brand.
• To study the current satisfaction level on the particular branded mobile phone
• To know the Behaviour of the customers during purchase according to certain features and
Factors.

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1.5 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The study existed to examine the consumer’s attitude towards smartphones usage and explore the
relationship of selected socioeconomic profile of smartphones. The selected socioeconomic
profile were gender, age, occupation, education level, and income level. The study descriptive in
nature, has conducted based on primary and secondary data from 40 respondents who use
smartphone. The study is conducted to identify the respondents favorable category on purchase.

Some attributes consumer considered to purchase smartphone such as brand name, functional
features and apps, outlook and appearance, operating system, price service, camera resolution
and durability. All of the consumers confronted hitches to use smartphone but their problematic
stood slight. Consumers used smartphone to make their life easier and to adopt the digitalized
world by connecting internet with the whole world. This average group of people is using
smartphone and there are significant reasons behind their likings and using of smartphone.

1.6 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.6 1 To know the preference level associates with different mobile phone.
1.6.2. To find out the satisfaction level towards the various smartphones
1.6.3. To examine whether the consumers are willing to spend as usual on their new purchases
1.6.4. To analyze the factors that influence the consumers in purchasing smartphones.
1.6.5. To know the major features, which a customer looks for in a mobile phone before making
purchase.

1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The methodology followed for conducting study includes the specifications of research,
design, questionnaire design, and data collection used for analyzing the collected data.

1.7.1 SOURCE OF DATA:-

The study involves both primary and secondary sources for collecting information.
Primary Data : Primary data was collected by using questionnaire
Secondary Data: Secondary data was collected by published and unpublished data, books,
magazines, newspaper, internet and trade journals.

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1.7.2 SAMPLING METHOD:-
The method used is Random sampling method.

1.7.3 SAMPLE UNIT :-

The data is collected among the students and various working professionals.

1.7.4 SAMPLE SIZE :- 400 Respondents

1.7.5 PERIOD OF THE STUDY :- The study entitled “ A study on consumer preference
towards smart phones during covid-19 with special reference to Palakkad District” has been
conducted for a period of three weeks.

1.7.6 TOOLS USED FOR ANALYSIS :-

Appropriate mathematical and statistical tools will be applied for analyzing and establishing the
relationship among important variables related to the consumer preference towards Smart
phones. The data will be interpreted by using SPSS and MS excel. In this study parametric and
nonparametric test is used. The important tools are given below.

ONE WAY ANOVA:- The one way ANOVA is used to determine whether there are statistically
significant differences between two or more independent groups. It is a way to test the equality
of three or more means at one time by using variance. Here it is used thrice, firstly to test the
variation in the satisfaction on the features of the mobile phones, secondly, to test the variation in
the influencing factors which helps to make new purchase, and thirdly, to test the variation in the
problems faced by the customers during their new purchase.

1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1.8.1. A small sample size of 400 people is taken, so we cannot draw inferences about the
population from this sample size.
1.8.2 Time period is short resource constraints.
1.8.3 Time scope of the project is limited, so we cannot say that the same responses will exit
throughout India

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1.8.4 The study is based on prevailing satisfaction may change according to time fashion,
technologies and development.

1.9 CHAPTER SCHEME

The scheme will be presented in the following Chapters.

Chapter 1 – Introduction:
This part will include introduction, scope and importance of the study, statement of the problem,
objectives and methodological design of the study, sampling and method of data collection and
analysis will also be dealt with it.

Chapter 2 - Review of Literature:

This chapter will cover a review of the earlier and relevant studies in the field of the study.

Chapter 3 - Company profile: conceptual framework

This chapter will cover the theoretical framework on the profile of the branded mobile phones.

Chapter 4 - Impact on consumer preference towards smartphones during

Covid-19 with special reference Palakkad district.
This chapter will cover the analysis and interpretation of the study.

Chapter 5 - Summary of findings, suggestions and conclusions

This chapter will expose the findings and suggestions of the study.

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Review of the literature is the second step in the process of any research. It is to know and
understand the background of the research subject.

India is the second-largest smartphone market in the world in terms of number of users but it is
expected to be the biggest market for global smartphone sales in the next few years.

Consumers are individuals and households that buy the firms product for personal consumption.
It often used to describe two different kinds of consuming entities: “the personal consumers” and
“the organizational consumers”. The activities of these consumers which are undertaken when
obtaining, consuming, and disposing of products and a service is known as consumer behavior.
“Consumer behavior”. It involves studying how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and
why they buy. When a consumer wanted to make the purchase decision, they will pass through
the process through recognition, search, information, evaluation, purchase, feedback. At last, the
consumer will choose a product or a brand to consume from various choices in the market
.
1. Bishal Nagarkoti (2009): Conducted research on factors influencing consumer behaviour
of smartphone users. He found that smartphone was not only the want but also a need in
the modern area because smartphone helps to connect with people all over the world. Social
and personal factors affected deeply on consumer towards smartphone and social factors
had no effect on purchasing behavior especially male participants because they likes to
take purchasing decision independently. Personal factors affected the consumer to buy
because most of the respondents identified that they were influenced greatly by age and
life cycle stage
.
2. Mohd Azam Osman, Maziani sabudin, Azlan Osaman and Tan shiang-Yen(2011): The
findings of the study conducted by them revealed that the male and younger consumers are
generally greater target market of smartphone and majority of male consumers had higher
acceptance towards various mobile contents such as: games, application software, email, internet
browsing etc. and they prefer the practical and useful information where there was no relation
between education and occupation level with behaviors of usage of smartphone.

6
3. Vikrant Awasthi (2012): He founded that most of the consumers preferred brand in
smartphone market is Apple, consumers prefer smartphone for its features. There was no
association between preference for features of smartphones on the basis of gender and brand
loyalty for smartphone.

4. Liao-Jui (2012): The study showed that most of the users of smartphone were male; he
divided the market into two segments camera group and outer image and performance group.
The results showed that the most of the females belong to camera group and males belong to
performance and outer image group. The influencing factors of consumers behavior on
smartphone were product design, features, price, performance and branding.

5. Surendra, Malviya, Dr.Manminder singh Salvja, Avijeet Singh Thakur (2013): They
identified four important factors such as price, brand preference, social influence and features
had no dominant influence to make purchase decision through measurement model. Actually the
results showed that pricing was not an influencing factor of consumer but features and social
influence affected heavily because smartphone was a status showing product.

6. Amrit Mohan (2014): In the study he founded that four important factors that affect
consumer purchase decision for smartphone such as social factors, self – actualization, brand
concern and product features concern. The study showed that consumers present positive attitude
or behavior towards Indian smartphone industry because most of the respondents showed high
level of satisfaction and their buying pattern has increased gradually.

7. Ashmeet Singkhanuja (2014): He found that consumers consider price and brand value
mostly to purchase and battery life plays negligible role to purchase smartphone. He also
explored that smartphone technology was the most influencing factor to purchase decision.

8. Joshi Sujata, Arindom Roy, Dikshit Thakkur, Anish Banik, Gagan Deep Arora and
Pallav Parashar (2015): They described that smartphone gained popularity on senior citizens
for its distinct advantage and improved features and they also found out six important factors
such as price, brand image, technology, functional factors, perceived value and referrals those

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affect senior citizens purchasing decision. The major finding was the senior citizens were more
conscious about technology.

9. Pappu Rajan, S.Karthikeyan (2017): According to their study the decision making is always
a central theme in marketing research. Consumers follow a two-stage strategy in making choices.
The need for a smartphone manufacturer to remain sensitive to product features as demanded by
prospective customer need to be overemphasized.

10. Mesay Sata Shankar (2013): The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting
the decision of buying mobile phone devices. Consumers value price followed by mobile phone
features as the most important variable amongst all and it also acted as a motivational force that
influences them to go for a mobile phone purchase decision. Six important factors i.e. price,
social group, product features, brand name, durability and after sales service were selected and
analyzed.

CONCLUSION.
The analysis of previous reviews helps the researcher to identify the problems to be taken up for
the present study. Based on the problems identified, the researcher has formulated the
methodology for the present study. This chapter presents a review of relevant research studies
relating to the present study area. From the above reviews of both empirical and conceptual
work, it is clear that different authors have approached various ways in varying different levels
of analysis. Therefore, for the present research also the current research available in the area
were studies and the research gap has been identified. Based on the review of literature, it is
visible that there are various researchers that has been conducted focusing on brand preferences
and others on consumer buying behaviour. Interrelating the brand preferences and consumer
buying behaviour are rare to find. Therefore, the present research has taken less researched area
for further analysis.

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References
1. Bishal Nagarkoti(2009), Factors influencing consumer Behaviour of Smartphones.
2. Mohd Azam Osman, Maziani sabudin, Azlan Osaman and Tan shiang-Yen(2011), Consumer
behavior towards usage of smartphone.
3. Vikrant Awasthi(2012), Consumer Buying Behavior towards smartphones.
4. Liao-Jui(2012), Consumer Behavior on smartphones.
5. Surendra, Malviya, Dr.Manminder singh Salvja, Avijeet Singh Thakur(2013), A study on the
factors influencing consumers purchase decision towards smartphone in Indore.
6. Amrit Mohan(2014), Consumer behavior towards smartphone industry in Indian Market.
7. Ashmeet Singkhanuja(2014), Consumer perception towards smartphone.
8. Joshi Sujata, Arindom Roy, Dikshit Thakkur, Anish Banik, Gagan Deep Arora and Pallav
Parashar(2015), Conceptual paper on factors affecting the attitude of Senior citizens towards
purchase of smartphone.
9. Pappu Rajan, S.Karthikeyan(2017), Study on smartphone buying behavior-an emperical
investigation of factors influencing purchase decision of college students.
10. Mesay Sata Shankar(2013), The factors affecting Consumer buying behavior of mobile
phone devices.

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3.1 HISTORY OF TELECOMMUNICATION
Telecommunication is defined as the science and technology of communication over a
distance. The ability to convey information quickly, accurately, and efficiently has always been
one of the main focus driving human innovation. From pre-historic man with their signal tries to
the smart phone – wielding high-powered executives of today, communication still remains a key
for survival and success. The history of telecommunication illustrate this never existing push for
progress as it steadily. Parallels human growth, becoming more widespread and efficiently as the
development of modern civilization unfolds.

In ancient times, the most common way of producing a signal would through light (fires)
and sound (rums and horns). However, those kinds communications were insecure and certainly
left room to improvement as they did not permit message encryption nor a fast transmission on a
large scale.

The true ‘jump' in terms of quality come with the advent of electricity. Electro magnetic
energy, in fact is able to transport information in an extremely fast way (ideally to the speed of
light), in a way say that the starting point of all modern telecommunication was the invention of
the electric cells by Alexander Volta (1800) it was shortly thereafter that the first experiments on
more advanced communication system begin. In 1809, Thomas Battery, 35 wires ( one for each
letter and number) and a group of sensors made of gold, which were submerged in a water tank;
when a signal was passing from one of those wires, electrical current wood split water
molecules, and small oxygen bubbles would be visible near the sensor. Many other experiments
were soon follow: Wheatstone, Weber and Karl Friedrich Gouss tried to further development.
Sommering’s idea in a product that would be mass-distributed, but their effort were without
success.

However, the telegraph still used just a trained personnel and its certain buildings like
officers, so it would only the used by a limited amount of people. Research of the time therefore
told another direction and aimed at production a machine that would transmit seconds, rather
than just signals. The first big step in this direction was the invention of transducers, which could

10
transform an acoustic signal into an electric one and vice versa with acceptable information loss
in 1850.

Seven years later, Antonio Meucci and Graham Bell independently managed to build a
prototype of and early telephone ( sound at distance) machine. Since Meucci didn’t have the
money to patent his invention, Bell managed to register it first.

Both with telegraphs and telephones, the need for a distributed and reliable communication
network soon become evident. Routing issues were first solved by means of human operators
and the circuit communication: the PSTN ( Public Switched Telephone Network) was born.
However, this system didn’t guarantee the privacy and secrecy of conversations, and efforts
towards the development of an automatic circuit communication were made.

In 1899, Almon Stowger invented and electro-machine device simply known as ‘selector',
which was directed by the electrical signals coming from the calling telephone device, achieved
through selection based on geographical prefixes.

Many other innovations were soon to come:

• In 1985, Guglielmo Marconi invented the ‘wireless telegraph' (Radio);

• In 1920, Valve amplifiers made their first appearance.

3.2 TELECOM INDUSTRY IN INDIA

India is currently the world’s second largest telecommunications market and has
registered strong growth in the past decade and half. The Indian mobile economy is growing
rapidly and will contribute substantially to Indian's growth domestic product (GDP), according to
report prepared by GSM Association (GSMA) in collaboration Boston Consulting Group
(BCM). The liberal and reformist policy of the government of India have been instrumental
along with strong consumer demand in the India telecom.

11
The government has enable easy market access to telecom equipment and a fair and pro-active
regulatory frame work that has ensured availability of telecom services to consumer at affordable
prices. The deregulation of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms has made the sector one of
the fastest growing and a top five employment opportunity generator in the country. The India
telecom sector is expected to generate for million direct and indirect job over the next five years
according to estimate by Randstad India.

The employment opportunities are expected to be creator due t combination of

governments efforts to increase penetration to rural areas and rapid increase in smartphone sales
and rising intern Internal Data Corporation (IDC) predicts India to overtake US as the second
largest smartphones market globally by 2020 and to maintain high growth rate over the next few
years as people switch to smartphones and gradually upgrade to 4G net usage. India was
expected to have over 180 million smartphone by 2021. Contribution around 13.5 percent to the
global smartphone market, based on rising affordability and better availability of data services
among other factors.

Having surpassed 119 crore subscribes in 2019 the Indian wireless industry is now the
second largest in the world by number of subscribers and rank second in terms of total internet
users. Over the past couple of years, the Indian telecom industry has been going through a
paradigm shift from a voice-centric market to a data-centric market. Therefore, the next growth
opportunity will be in mobile internet where the industry is likely to add a 500 million new
internet users over the next first years given the availability of affordable smartphones and lower
data lost.

3.3 THE ORIGIN OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION.

Wireless communication was a magic to our ancestors but Marconi could initiate it with
his telegraph in 1895. Wireless communication can be classified into three eras:
• Pioneer Era (till 1920)
• Pre cellular Era ( 1920 – 1979)

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• Cellular Era ( beyond 1979)

The first commercial mobile telephone system was launched by BELL in St. Louis, USA.
In 1964 few lucky customers got the services. Early mobile system used single high power
transmitters with analog frequency modulation techniques to give coverage upto about 50 miles
and hence only limited customers could get the service due to this server constrains of
bandwidth. In the mid- 1860’s the Scotish mathematician James Clerk Maxwell produced a pair
of equations whose solution predicated elect to magnetic waves propagating at the speed of light.
It took 20 years to verify this prediction in the laboratory and another 20 year for the first
“mobile application” to take place.

In September of 1899, Gug Lielmo Marconi ushered in the era of practical mobile radio
communication with historical radio telegraph transmission from a ship i.e New York Harbor to
the twin lights in highlands new Jersey. His first transmission covered the arrival of Admiral
Dewey from Manila and soon thereafter, coverage of the Americans cup races was provided as
well. This was accomplished high energy, wide brand poles of radio noise, created using a spark
generator coupled to a antenna.

The signal was received with a similar antenna attached to a fascinating device known as a
“coherer”, a tube in which metallic particles were caused cohere to one another by the presence
of the radio signal. The reduced resistance of the coherer in this state allowed the radio signal to
be deducted, after which a mechanical “tapper” returned the particles to their original state. Each
telegraph symbol was re-presented by a rapid serious of these spark generated signals, which was
deducted as an audible tone. Within a year Marconi had added filtering to create separable
channel, and thus to allow multiple simultaneous transmission in the same area. Within 3 years
he was able to cross the Atlantic with a radio transmission. And radio telegraphy was soon used
on many ocean-going vessels (most notably, it was used to report the sinking of the titanic in
1912). Analog (voice) transmission was used as early as 1905, but early work was division
primarily by the military applications, and it was not until 1919 that an experimental ship-to-
shore radio telephone services was initiated. Commercial radio telegraphy for passengers on
ships in the Atlantic was begun in 1929. By this time, radio were small and ragged enough to be

13
installed in automobile, and the first “land mobile”. Radio system was put in to operations by the
Detroit policy in 1928.
Spectrum that could be exploited for practical systems in short supply and mobile
communication service were in completion with initially and broad cast series for the available
channels. As a result, most mobile radio channels were devoted emergency and public services
uses until the cellular revolution began some fifty years later. Despite these difficulties, on early
mobile cell phone services was initiated in 1947 using several channels at 35 MHz additional
channels were soon allocated at 150 MHz and later at 450 MHz improved filtering and frequency
stability allowed these channels to be borrowed, eventually creating a total of more than 40
channels for mobile telephony.

In an effort to create competition, the FCC divided these channels the local telephone
companies and a group of new entities called Radio Common Carriers (RCCS), allowing two
completing carriers to each geographic area. Early mobile telephone system resembled broadcast
systems. In that powerful transmitters were used to carve a distance of 20-30 miles from a high
tower or rooftop. The reuse of any channel for a different call required separations of more than
50 miles. New York channels were reused in Philadelphia, so that each city and its suburbs were
limited to about 40 simultaneous calls.

3.4 THE KEY PLAYERS IN THE TELECOM MARKET IN INDIA

In the telecom market the following five brands of mobile phones that provide information
about the leading brand are under study

1. SAMSUNG
2. APPLE
3. OPPO
4. ONE PLUS
5. XIAOMI

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3.4.1. SAMSUNG

Samsung is a South Korean multinational conglomerate company headquarter is Samsung

Town. If companies numerous subsidiaries affiliated business. Most of them united under the
Samsung brand and is the largest South Korean Chaebol.
Samsung was founded by Lee Byung-chul in 1938 as a trading company. Over the next three
decades, the group diversified in to areas including food processing, textiles, insurance and retail.
Samsung entered the electronic industry in the late 1960’s and the construction and ship building
industries in the mid 1970; these areas would drive its subsequent growth.

Following Lee's death in 1987, Samsung was separated into four business group- Samsung
group, Shinsegae group, CJ group and Hansol group. Since 1990, Samsung has increasingly
globalized its activity and electronics; in particular, its mobile phones and semiconductors have
become its most important source of income. Samsung has a powerful influence on South
Korea’s economic development, politics, media and culture and has been a major driving force
behind the “miracle on the Hon River”. Its affiliated companies produce around a fifth of South
Korea’s total experts. Samsung revenue was equal to 17% of South Korea’s $1,082 billing GDP.
Its flagship company, Samsung Electronics, leads the global market in high-tech electronics
manufacturing and digital media. Samsung is taking the world in imaginative new directions.
Today it owes much of its success to its value innovation programme. It believes that success in
consumers electronics and only ever be short term and therefore pressing need for continuous
innovation in order to develop new technology platforms and creak products that an first of it
kind in the market place. Samsung spends more than $6 bn and research annually. It recognize
that many of its products, such as semiconductors and flat-screens, are now basic commodities,
and its focus is a producing iconic devices for the next generation as Sony's walk man was in the
80’s and the IPod is today .Samsung's innovation focus is therefore set firmly on design and,
most specially, on the design of digital TVs.

In 2017, Samsung ranked No.1 amongst India’s most attractive brands get gain for consecutive
years by the TRA research. In 2018 Samsung has been ranked as India’s most trusted brand

15
intelligence firm TRA. Samsung won the gold for digital marketing in the consumer good
category for its customers service campaign. Samsung service film is the highest viewed
advertising video on you tube across all categories in India with over 101 million views.
Samsung is voted as No.1 brand in both mobile handsets/tablets and consumers durable
categories and No.2 brand across all categories. This year Samsung’s award-winning honoress
span arrange of categories including visual display, fitness, sports and biotech, wireless handsets,
etc.. we have made significant investments in the areas of 5G.

3.4.2 APPLE

Apple's consumer software includes the Mac OS and iOS operating systems, the iTunes
medial player, the safari web browser, and the iLife and iWork creatively and productivity suites.
It's only services includes the iTunes store, the iOS App store and Mac App store, Apple Music,
and iCloud. Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Woznik, and Ronald Wayne in April 1976
to develop and sell personal computers. It was incorporated as Apple Computers, Inc in January
1977, and was renamed as Apple Inc. In January 2007 to reflect is shifted focus toward consumer
electronics. Apple (NASDAQ : AAPL) joined the Dow Jones industrial average in March 2015.
Apple is the world’s largest information technology company by resource, the world’s largest
technology by total assets; and the world’s second largest mobile phone manufacturers. In
November 2014, in addition to being the largest publicity traded corporation in the world by
market capitalization. Apple became the first US company to valued at over US$700 billing. The
company employees 115,000 permanent full-time employees as of July 2015 and maintains 4798
retail stores in seventeen countries as on March 2016. It operates the online Apple store and
iTunes store, the latter of which is the world’s largest music retailer. Apple’s worldwide annual
revenue totaled $233 billing for the fiscal year ending in September 2015. This revenue
generation accounts for approximately 1.25% of the total unites slakes GDP. The company
enjoys a high level of brand loyalty and according to inter brand annual best Global Brands
report, has been the world’s most valuable brand for 4 years in a row, with a valuation in 2016 of
$178.1 billing. The corporation receives significant criticism regarding the labour practices of its
contractors and its environmental and business practices, including the origins of source
materials.

16
Apple was established on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne
to sell the Apple I personal computer kit. The Apple I kits were computers single branded
designed and hand-built by Wozniak and first shown to the public at the homebrew computers
club. The Apple I was sold as a motherboard ( with CPU, RAM, and Basic textual-video chips),
which was less than what is now considered a complete personal computers. The Apple I went
on sale in July 1976 and was market -priced of $666.66 ( $2,777 in 2016 dollars, adjusted for
inflation). Apple was incorporated on January 3, 1977 without Wayns who his share of the
company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800. Multimillionaire Mike Markkula provided
essential business expertise and finding of $250,000 during the incorporation of Apple during the
first five years of operations revenues grew exponently, doubling about every four months
between September 1977 and September 1980 yearly sales grew from $775,000 to $118m, an
average annual growth rate of 533%. The Apple II, also invested by Wozniak, was introduced on
April 16, 1977, at the first westcoast computer fair. It deferred from its major rivals, the TRs 80
and commodore PET, because of it’s character cell based color graphics and open architecture.
While early Apple II models used ordinary cassette tapes as storage devices there were
supersedeal by the introduction of a 5.4 in floppy disc drive and interface called the Disk II. The
Apple II was chosen to be the desktop platform for the first “killer app” of the business world;
Visi Cale created a business market of the Apple II and gave home issues on additional reason to
by an Apple II; compatibility with the office.

On September 12, 2018, Apple officially unvield the IPhone XS, XS Max and XR at the
Stave Jobs theatre at Apple paste. The IPhone upgraded programme is a 24 month programme
designed for consumers to be able to get the latest IPhone every year, without paying the whole
price up-front. The programme consists of “low monthly payments”. Apple’s marketing,
developing from the success of IPod campaign, allowed the phone to become a mass market
product when many buyers on launch day.

3.4.3 OPPO

Guang dong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Co.Ltd.., commonly referred to as Oppo, is

17
a Chinese consumer electronics and mobile communications company headquartered in
Dongguan, China, known for its smart phones, Blu-ray players and other electronic devices and
leading manufacturer of smart phones, Oppo was the top smart phone brand to China 2016 and
was ranked No.8 worldwide. The brand name Oppo was registered in China in 2001 and
launched in 2004. Since then., they have expanded ta all part of the world. In 2019, the company
first saw protest over India’s national flag insult row. It was followed by a mass resignation of
the Punjab Service Unit. Korean boy band 2pm prepared a song known as “follow your soul” in
a promotional idea with Oppo for launching its brand in Thailand in 2010. In June 2015 the
company signed an agreement with FC Barcelona to become an official partner of the Spanish
football club. In 2016, PBA tied up with this company as its official smart phone partner starting
from 2016 PBA commissioner’s cup which was held on February 2010. Oppo also hires
celebrity enclosses three smart phone units like Neo 5, Neo 7 and F1s. Oppo made a sponsorship
to one of Vietnam's top rated reality show, the face Vietnam. In October 2019, Oppo Thailand
launched a new ad of Oppo F5 smart phone with a new ad presents.

In 2017, Oppo won bid to sponsor the Indian National Cricket Team and has achieved the
rights to display their logo on the team's kits from 2017 -2022. Within this period the Indian
National Cricket team will play 259 international matches consisting of 62 tests, 152 ODIS, and
45 T20 internationals. In 2019 Oppo has announced a partnership with the All England Lawn
Tennis Club (AELTC) to become the first official smart phone partner of the prestigious
Wembildon lawn tennis championship.

In 2014 Oppo released a number of high end headphones and amplifiers. The flagship PM-
1 and PM-2 headphones along with the HA-1 desktop amplifier have been heavily promoted
audio commonly. One blogger declares the PM-2 is “near to perfect”. Released in 2015, the HA-
2 was a potable version of the HA-1 amp loac which featured a battery pack option as well as a
stitched leather casing. The phone played music in real time to the HA-2. It also can be charged
using an included “rapid charger” charging kit. The battery pack feature can only be used
simultaneously while the HA-2 is used to play music if the playing device is an Apple ios device.
In October 2016 an updated version was released with a new DAC chip and now named HA-25C
otherwise. It was the same as the HA-2ppo digital similar named to Oppo but an independent

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company under present BBK which desigreed and markets audio and video equipment. Oppo
also has the advantage with a more premium appearance, faster face unlock and battery life.
Oppo, the Chinese consumer electronics and mobile communication company is one of the top
smart phone brands in India. It has a good online for its high quality selfie factors. Oppo aims to
be one of the most premium smart phone brands in India.

3.4.4 ONE PLUS

OnePlus was founded on 16th December 2013 by former Oppo vice-president Pete Lau and
Carl Pei. OnePlus technology Co Ltd is a Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer
headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdon province, in the Tairan building. It is currently majority
owned by Oppo as its only shareholder, which is a subsidiary of BBK Electronics along with
Vivo, Real me and iQOO. The company is best known for making smartphones worldwide and
officially serves 34 countries and regions around the world as of July 2018.

The products produced by the OnePlus Ltd includes smartphones, earphones, power banks,
oxygen OS and hydrogen OS (android based OS developed by Chinese smartphone manufacturer
OnePlus exclusively for their smart phones), phone cases, shirts, bags, televisions, smart
watches..etc.

OnePlus entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Cyanogen Inc to base its
products Android distribution upon a variant of the popular custom ROM CyanogenMod and use
its trademarks outside of China. The company unveiled its first device, the OnePlus One, on 23
April 2014 which was intended to capture market from Google Nexus(a line of consumer device
that ran the Android OS) series. In December 2014, alongside the release of the OnePlus One in
India exclusively through Amazon, OnePlus also announced plans to establish a presence in the
country, with plans to open 25 official walk-in service centers across India.

In April 2014, OnePlus hired Han to help market its products in mainland China. On 9th
March 2014, the company expanded its operations to the European Union. OnePlus made its

19
products available in Southeast Asia for the firs time, partnering with Lazada Indonesia on 23
January 2015 and was expected to expand during that year throughout the region. In June 2016,
OnePlus decided to pull out of the Indonesian market due to local regulations for imported 4G
smartphones restricting sales of the OnePlus 2.

At the launch event of the OnePlus 6 on 17 May 2018, OnePlus announced it would be
opening five new OnePlus Experience stores in India, as well as 10 new service centers. In the
IDC survey, OnePlus ranked third in India's market with more than $500 in the first quarter of
this year after Apple and Samsung Electronics. And it ranked second after China’s Vivo in the
300 – 500 dollar market. On October 16, 2020, Carl Pei resigned as director of OnePlus. In 2021
Oppo and OnePlus combined their hardware research teams via OPlus.

3.4.5 XIAOMI

Xiaomi Corporation is a Chinese multinational electronics company founded in April 2010

and headquartered in Beijing. Xiaomi released its first smartphone in August 2011 and rapidly
gained market share in China to become the country’s largest smartphone company in 2014. At
the start of second quarter of 2018, Xiaomi was the world’s fourth-largest smartphone
manufacturer, leading in both the largest market, China, and the second-largest market, India.

On 6th April 2010 Xiaomi was co-founded by Lei Jun and others( six other members). And
on 16th August 2010, Xiaomi officially launched its first Android-based firmware MIUI. In 2012,
the first version of its smart phone was commercially appeared in Asia and East Asia
technological markets. In September 2013, Xiaomi announced its Mi 3 phone. Later by October
2013 Xiaomi was the fifth-most used smartphone brand in China. In 2013 Xiaomi sold 18.7
million smartphones.

On 24th February 2016, Xiaomi launched the Mi 5 smartphone and by the following year on

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10th May 2016, Xiaomi launched the Mi Max. In August 2016, Xiaomi entered Bangladesh via
Solar Electro Bangladesh Limited. In September 2016, Xiaomi's cell phones became officially
available in the European Union through their partnership with ABC Data. In February 2020,
Xiaomi launched the Mi 10 5G and Mi 10 Pro 5G.

In October 2020, Xiaomi surpassed Apple as the third largest smartphone maker in the world
by shipment volume, shipping 46.2 million handsets in Q3. In December 2020, Xiaomi launched
its next flagship phone, the Mi 11. In January 2021, Xiaomi launched its next midrange-flagship
smartphone (Xiaomi Mi 10i 5G). On 25 February they unveiled the Redmi K40 Pro+ with 108
MP camera and Snapdragon 888 chipset, along with the K40 Pro and K40. On March 30, they
announced that a new investment of US$10 billion in electric vehicles for the next ten years. And
on 31st March a new logo for the company, designed by Kenya Hara.

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References
1. https://www.investopedia.com
2. https://www.vizion.com
3. https://www.researchgate.net
4. https://www.gsmarena.com
5. https://www.gadgets.ndtv.com
6. https://www.businessinside.com
7. https://www.zdnet.com

22
IMPACT OF CONSUMER PREFERENCE TOWARDS
SMARTPHONES DURING COVID-19.
The study on consumer preference towards smartphones are based on the branded phones
available in the market like Apple, OPPO, Samsung, Xiaomi,etc.. people prefer a particular
brand, the preference differ from person to another person of various reasons. Mobile facility
plays vital role in the selection of a particular brand of mobile phones. Brand names are often
used in establishing and overall product concept. Every time when an consumer tries to make a
choice on purchases he/she clearly goes through the complete available information regarding
the availability of the product according to their choices. And at the mean time they decide to
take relevant decision on the purchasing activity. Even during the pandemic period they some are
willing to spend the same level or price even if it is high at the market price. The result of the
survey conducted as part of the research study is analyzed and presented in this chapter.
This analysis is presented in 4 parts
4.1. Demographic profile of the sample
4.2. Profile of current mobile phone in use
4.3. Information about new purchases
4.4. Influencing factors and problems related to new purchase
The statistical package for social science (SPSS-XX) is used to process the data. Relevant
statistical tools and techniques such as Frequencies, One Way ANOVA were used for Analysing
and interpreting the collected data.

4.1 Demographic profile of the sample

The profile of sample explaining the demographic profile like age, gender, educational status and
average monthly income and occupational features of the respondents is presented below.

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Table 4.1 Demographic profile

Personal data Catagories No of Respondents Per cent

Gender Male 190 47.5

Female 210 52.5

Total 400 100.0

< = 20 180 45.0
21 – 30 90 22.5
Age 31 – 40 50 12.5
41 – 50 60 15.0
>= 50 20 5.0
Total 400 100.0
Below SSLC 10 2.5
+2 10 2.5
Educational status UG 210 52.5
PG 13 32.5
Diploma 4 10.0
Total 400 100.0
< = 10000 110 27.5
10001 – 20000 100 25.0
Average Monthly 20001 – 30000 120 30.0
Income 30001 – 40000 30 7.5
40001 – 50000 10 2.5
>=50000 30 7.5
Total 400 100.0
Student 250 62.5
Private 50 12.5
Profession 10 2.5

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Occupation
Business 10 2.5
Government 30 7.5
Daily wages and 10 12.5
others
Total 400 100.0
Source : primary data

Table 4.1 exhibits the profile of the sample of respondents selected for the study. It is observed
that 52.5 per cent of respondents are females. According to the age wise classification 45 per
cent is below 20 years. According to the qualification basis 53.5 per cent of them are graduated
persons. The classification made according to the average monthly income 30 per cent of them
are between 20001 – 30000. Occupational analysis says that 62.5 per cent of respondents are
students.
4.2. Profile of current mobile phone in use
Mobile phones were adopted faster than any other technologies device in human history and
research was unable to keep up. The study focused on a group of mobile phone users to whom
these devices represent a valuable personal services and after considering the characteristics of
the study population and the results fit with the current thinking issues. The users make choices
according to their life style or may be according to their preferences. Even they make the same
choices during new purchases.

The sample explaining the profile, period of usage, price level and satisfaction of the current
mobile phone used by the respondents are presented in the table given below.

Table 4.2.1 Profile of mobile phone

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Categories No of Respondent Per cent
Red mi 90 22.5
Real me 50 12.5
Oppo 50 12.5
Apple 40 10.0
Samsung 80 20.0
Vivo 30 7.5
Others 60 15.0
Total 400 100.0
Source : Primary Data

As per the data collected from the respondents, among 400 users 22.5 per cent uses Redmi, 12.5
per cent uses Realme, and 20 per cent uses Samsung. And 7.5 per cent uses vivo.

Table 4.2.2 Period of usage

Period No of Respondents Per cent
<= 1 year 110 27.5
1-2 120 30.0
2-3 80 20.0
3 -4 70 17.5
4–5 10 2.5
>= 5 10 2.5
Total 400 100.0
Source: Primary Data

According to the price- wise classification 50 per cent of the users purchased their mobile phone
ranging from10000 to 20000 Rs. And 7.5 per cent of the users purchased smartphones worth
more than 50000 Rs.

Satisfactory level of the features of the current mobile phone used by the respondents.

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The factors influencing the features of the smart phones based on reason for new purchases is
analysed using One Way ANOVA l. It comprise mea difference between groups that have been
split on reason of new purchases. Here the factors are analysed by the interaction between one
dependent variable (reason for new purchases) on the dependent variable (selected factors)

H0: There is no variation in the mean scores obtained for the selected variable on the factors
influencing based on reason for new purchases of the respondents.

H1: There is variation in the mean scores obtained for the selected variable on the factors
influencing based on reason for new purchases of the respondents.

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