Prabhu RamA new Mobile Industry Consumer Insights (MICI) Survey, conducted by CyberMedia Research (CMR) in association with TECNO, the global premium smartphone brand of Transsion Holdings on Wednesday revealed that consumers in Aspirational Bharat saw a 120 per cent spike in smartphone usage for productivity compared to pre Covid-19 levels.
According to the survey, during Covid-19 lockdown (March 25-May 31), smartphone usage spiked by 50 per cent, with smartphone usage for work surging more than 100 per cent.
Smartphone users in Aspirational Bharat depend on their smartphones to empower their professional and personal life with 84 per cent of consumers depend on their smartphones, for instance, for accessing the information on government schemes, weather patterns, and market linkage information for farm produce.
Meanwhile, 83 per cent of consumers use their phones for content consumption including creating and consuming short-form videos, music and videos.
Beyond work, consumers spent increased time on their phones for consuming content, including video OTT (70 per cent) and audio OTT (60 per cent), and gaming (62 per cent).
Around three in every seven users in Aspirational Bharat have started some new activities and hobbies during the period of lockdown. For instance, 21 per cent of the consumers have learnt new skills, 19 per cent have listened to music, while 18 per cent have taken up new hobbies on their phones.
“The smartphone is a key daily driver for consumers living in cities and towns beyond Tier I. We call this the Aspirational Bharat. What the survey highlights is how smartphone usage is changing, during the lockdown and in the neo-normal, cutting across use cases, such as productivity, personal development, and leisure. In preparation for the new normal, consumers in Aspirational Bharat are seeking smartphones that offer larger screen size and much better battery life,” Prabhu Ram, Head- Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, said in a statement.
Source: Telangana Today
