Operational variance among smartphones in India higher than global levels: Study

Operational performance variances among smartphones in India surpass global benchmarks, a new study said Tuesday warning that such trends not only impact customer experience but may potentially cause USD 30 billion loss to Internet economy by 2020.

Broadband India Forum (BIF) along with telecom audit and analytics company Phimetrics released a study that tested the operational variances in smartphones across the premium, mid-range and low-priced categories across multiple markets including India.

"Global operational variance bands in smartphones are +/- 10 per cent. India operational variance bands are in the region of +/- 27% thereby impacting customer experience significantly," the study said. It outlined the results based on tests conducted across smartphones under similar network conditions and found variance ranges across models in India.

Most consumers are completely unaware of the fact that device and network performances are inter-linked and not all devices will deliver at the same level of efficacy under similar network conditions, the study said.

The testing was done under similar network conditions to highlight these operational variances and these were then compared to similar variances in global markets, it said.

"Operational variance of India's top selling smartphone models is in the region of 30 per cent while that of premium smartphones is in the range of 15 per cent," it said adding that smartphone models were selected from top global device manufacturers.

The significantly higher difference in Indian smartphones highlighted that the models in India differ significantly from global peers. Smartphone variance was measured across four key operational parameters download speeds, upload speeds, video buffer time and web browsing delay.

"The report also highlighted that operational issues have a direct impact in terms of delays and potential loss to the internet economy. Total delays experienced due to poor performing devices was seen to be 25,000 man-years and the potential loss to the internet economy (2020 projections) is estimated to be around USD 30 billion," it added.