National computer company NCC, one of the biggest names in Russian technology, plans to release new smartphones with an open source version of Android in response to sanctions that prevent it from importing US technology.
The announcement comes amid multiple economic and trade sanctions against Russia and Samsung and Apple, two of the world's most popular smartphone brands, are pulling out of the Russian market. Recently, the US Department of Commerce banned the export of cell phones and other electronic devices to Russia that cost more than $300, which means that Russian phones will struggle to compete with Chinese brands.
According to a Wired report, the Russian company aims to sell 100,000 smartphones and tablets by the end of 2023 and expects to capture 10% of the market by 2026. However, experts doubt that the device will be able to achieve this goal, as some of them believe that Russian phones may Struggling to outpace its Chinese competitors, which are cheaper in Russia. The phones may struggle with Google's Android, which could force the company to use something else.
Russia is striving to become technologically self-sufficient, and this new venture is just one of many attempts to achieve that goal. The idea of "digital sovereignty," where a country aims to control the Internet within its borders, including content, data, and infrastructure, allows governments to separate the national Internet from the rest of the world's electronic networks. . The Russian government began promoting the idea after imposing sanctions on Crimea following its annexation in 2014.
Some Russian projects have succeeded in attracting local users to their platforms, such as Russia's Facebook-like VKontakte, but the platforms have been criticized for their outdated design and lack of users. Attempts to create a native RuStore for apps have been relatively successful, with over 10 million users now.
And with more than 1,000 technology companies leaving the Russian market, including companies such as IBM, Oracle, Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung and Apple, the Russian technology market will shrink by $12.1 billion or 39% in 2022. Global market analysis firm IDC.
Last February, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that Russia wants to replace 85% of its foreign software with Russian software by launching several projects, including a project to create a national operating system for smart devices. However, Karen Kazarian, CEO and founder of the Internet Research Institute, said the plan is still in its early stages and there is no timetable yet.
Several Russian smartphones have been launched, including Yotaphone, but these devices still struggle to attract local users because Russians prefer brands they know, so Samsung and Apple phones are still sold side by side in the Russian market. , in the absence of a permit from the manufacturer to import the goods. NCC plans to price its phones between 10,000 and 30,000 rubles ($132-398).
Russian phones may struggle to compete with cheaper Chinese brands such as Huawei, which lost two-thirds of its sales last year after the US blocked access to popular Google services.
Honor, the low-cost brand formerly owned by Xiaomi, Realme and Huawei, has replaced the best-selling iPhone and Samsung phones, which accounted for 95% of the Russian market last year, according to Counterpoint research data.
It should be noted that the US sanctions do not include open source software because it is free and developed in cooperation with a wide range of developers around the world, which prevents it from being banned as a purely US technology. Scope of penalties. From this point of view, Russia can use the open source version of Android to develop its own mobile phones, but not Google's technology used in popular Android phones such as the App Store, Maps and dozens of other services because it is not open. source. Not having these services on phones that are based on an open source version of Android will make phones less attractive to consumers.