The “Putinphone”?
Samsung and Apple have stopped shipping smartphones to Russia. Given that Russia is among the largest smartphone markets (6th globally as measured by number of users) and has the 2nd highest adoption rate based on population, this is a significant blow to both brands. In term of vendor share currently Apple holds a slight lead over Xiaomi (1810.HK) and Samsung, with Huawei (pvt) and RealMe (pvt) with lower shares, and Android is the obviously dominant smartphone OS. Google has stopped Russian users from making purchases from the Google Play Store or YouTube although free apps will still be available, and Russian state-owned media outlets have also been banned.
This has set the Russian government toward the potential that Google will cut off all Android support to Russian smartphone users or will limit licenses for new phones and has pushed the government to examine other operating systems going forward, including Huawei Harmony OS, which is the alternative OS used by Huawei in China, after its ban from trade with the US. Huawei has indicated that while it has sold 220m devices with their OS, they have no plans to sell any phones with the Harmony OS overseas. Unfortunately, that does not rule out the licensing of the OS to others, such as Russian smartphone producers, who can use it in their phones to replace Android going forward, giving Huawei an income stream without selling phones into the country.
That said, the Russian government is urging citizens to not worry about Google, Samsung, or Apple and purchase the domestically produced smartphone, the AYYA T1, which was developed by Smartecosystem (pvt) a division of Rostec, (State Corporation for Assistance to Development, Production, and Export of Advanced Technology Industrial Product Rostec), a state-owned organization created by V. Putin in 2007. The phone uses a Mediatek (2454.TT) Helio processor and has a 6.5” screen, with the retail version running on Android while other models are available with the Aurora OS, developed by Jolla Ltd (pvt), a Finnish company, although the code is open-source. The AYYA’s claim to fame is that the phone has a button that disables both the cameras and the microphone to allow users to be free of potential surveillance. The phone sells for what was 15,000 to 19,000 rubles, which at the beginning of this year was equivalent to $170 - $255 US, although now is between $156 and $198.
This has set the Russian government toward the potential that Google will cut off all Android support to Russian smartphone users or will limit licenses for new phones and has pushed the government to examine other operating systems going forward, including Huawei Harmony OS, which is the alternative OS used by Huawei in China, after its ban from trade with the US. Huawei has indicated that while it has sold 220m devices with their OS, they have no plans to sell any phones with the Harmony OS overseas. Unfortunately, that does not rule out the licensing of the OS to others, such as Russian smartphone producers, who can use it in their phones to replace Android going forward, giving Huawei an income stream without selling phones into the country.
That said, the Russian government is urging citizens to not worry about Google, Samsung, or Apple and purchase the domestically produced smartphone, the AYYA T1, which was developed by Smartecosystem (pvt) a division of Rostec, (State Corporation for Assistance to Development, Production, and Export of Advanced Technology Industrial Product Rostec), a state-owned organization created by V. Putin in 2007. The phone uses a Mediatek (2454.TT) Helio processor and has a 6.5” screen, with the retail version running on Android while other models are available with the Aurora OS, developed by Jolla Ltd (pvt), a Finnish company, although the code is open-source. The AYYA’s claim to fame is that the phone has a button that disables both the cameras and the microphone to allow users to be free of potential surveillance. The phone sells for what was 15,000 to 19,000 rubles, which at the beginning of this year was equivalent to $170 - $255 US, although now is between $156 and $198.
Top Smartphone Markets by Users & Penetration - 2021 - Source: SCMR LLC, Statista.com
Top Smartphone Vendors in Russia - Source: SCMR LLC, StatCounter
AYYA T1 - Source: AYYA
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