Price, features and wallet share: Smartphone brands lose label power

The shine is coming off some of the big brands in the business as styles, prices and features converge in the mobile handset market

Not too many years ago, the Indian smartphone market was neatly divided between the premium (global brands such as Apple and Samsung) and challenger labels (a mix of global and local). Not anymore. As consumers are wooed assiduously by Chinese handset makers that follow a design ethic that is similar to other global majors such as Samsung, Apple and Google and offer a slew of features that match the rest, brands are losing the stickiness that the category once promised.  
 

Much like the way special offers and price wars have come to define the airline industry in the country,