A snapshot of competition

The growing focus on better camera quality in smartphones reflects the constant need for brands to differentiate in a cut-throat market

Earlier this month, OPPO Mobiles unveiled a festive season "surprise gift" - the OPPO F1s Diwali customised limited edition smartphone. With a joint laser signature of its celebrity endorsers Hrithik Roshan and Sonam Kapoor embossed on the devices - labelled as "selfie experts" - the Chinese handset brand unabashedly invited a young target audience to feed narcissism. As smartphone vendors increasingly focus on camera quality as a unique selling point, how critical is this aspect for customers today and how it can help brands as a strategy in the long term?

Will Yang, brand director of OPPO Mobiles, says, "Some brands enlarge the phone for the convenience of older people but we don't do it. So, as one of the core concepts of our branding is 'young at heart', besides being meticulous and innovation."

The company believes smartphones have much to do with technology, which mostly involves youth or an age bracket of 14 to 35. When asked about the emphasis it places on selfies, Yang says, "Actually, we started to focus on front cameras from the very beginning. We have specially tailored a lot of functions for the front camera. We had the first rotating cameras, so OPPO is definitely focused on front cameras."

Among Chinese brands, Lenovo too has flagged smartphones with dual-selfie cameras earlier and the Vibe Shot - with its camera-like design and features - last month, while Gionee introduced its first selfie-focused smartphone in India in August.

In case of home-grown brands, Lava is among the first to put the focus on the front camera. Gaurav Nigam, product head, Lava International, says when it launched the Iris X5 budget smartphone two years, the company realised selfie would be a big feature for social media. He says demographics and economic strata of customers play a role in shaping products. "An entry-level smartphone customer is just looking for a touch experience. Slightly above that, the need is more for a big screen so that users can consume multimedia. After this, the consumer by default wants a good camera experience. In the fourth segment, camera has to be good and RAM also comes into play. The processing power of the phone has to keep increasing."

Lava manages to attract a lot of students and youngsters who have just landed their first jobs through camera phones. Nigam says, "If we launch 10 phones, eight have very high camera focus. Since the last one and a half to two years, we have a dedicated set of people reviewing the camera and ensuring it becomes better with every new launch." He adds that internal studies suggest that despite the buzz around selfies, the rear camera retains more relevance.

According to Counterpoint Technology Market Research, in case of rear camera in smartphones the 13 mega-pixel (MP) is now the popular choice among vendors. For the front camera, eight MP would be the next default choice in the mid segment. Data show that in 2014, the five-7.99 MP range was the most dominant (41 per cent) for rear camera, whereas now the 10-14.99 MP range (32 per cent) is most common. Front cameras, too, have seen rapid development. In 2014, 0-1.99 MP was most popular with 53 per cent, while the five-7.99 MP range now features in 50 per cent of the smartphones.

Researchers do not fear any self-defeating result from the thrust on camera quality for companies in the long run, arguing that mobile devices have long been accessorised and grown out of their basic function as communication devices.

Navkendar Singh, head, mobile devices research, India and South Asia, IDC India, says, "The smartphone market in India is highly competitive, and vendors are forced to market and position their offerings with a lot more value additions than mere communication devices." He feels camera-centric marketing is a great way to pull consumers, provided this is coupled with smart below-the-line and digital marketing initiatives. "During our conversations with customers and retailers in various cities, it is very clear that after price range, camera quality is the most important feature for a customer while buying a smartphone."

Tarun Pathak, senior analyst of Counterpoint Research, concurs that camera quality is one of the top factors from a purchase point of view and it is likely to be one of the biggest selling points for original equipment manufacturers. "If it is picture quality now, in another two years video will be the next big thing. Brands will focus on innovations in this direction." From greater focus on pixel size until a couple of years ago, the shift now has been towards depth of camera quality, aspect ratio, optical zoom, etc.

He explains the changes as "an evolution curve". "It's not that cameras will not be relevant after two or three years, but some other hardware aspects will take greater control in terms of mindshare."