India's Smartphone Market Has a New Entrant; Check Out Why Alcatel is Making a Comeback

French technology company Alcatel is set to make a comeback in India’s booming smartphone market. The tech company has planned to focus mainly on the mass segment by launching a range of premium smartphones. With an aim to promote the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the French technology manufacturer will expand its presence in the country by focusing on domestic manufacturing, according to the Economic Times. 

“As we expand our presence in India, from day 1 we have embraced the ‘Make in India’ initiative by focusing on local manufacturing. By producing our devices within the country, we aim to enhance supply chain efficiency, ensure superior quality, and contribute to India’s growing technology ecosystem,” said Alcatel India’s chief operating officer, Ansh Rathi, according to ET.

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The French-based company operated by Chinese firm TCL Communication under a trademark license from Nokia didn’t launch anything in the phone and tablet segment post-2018. 

This comeback has come at a time when Indian electronics manufacturing, including smartphones is booming, especially under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s production-linked incentive scheme. 

India’s Smartphone Manufacturing Boom 

Last year in July, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Acer partnered with Indkal Technologies to launch made-in-India smartphone models. The company aims to gain significant share of the Indian smartphones market.

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“This strategic deal marks the introduction of Acer-branded smartphones into the Indian market,” the company said in a statement. 

The Indian smartphone market is dominated by the Chinese mobile manufacturers like Vivo, Xiaomi and Oppo. In the past few years, Apple has threatened the dominance of Chinese manufactures, by increasing its domestic production fueled by the PLI scheme. In January 2025, Apple entered the group of top five in the Indian smartphone market, which is ruled by companies like Vivo, Xiaomi, Samsung and Oppo.

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These developments come at a time when the exports of Indian manufactured smartphones have increased 6% on a YoY basis in 2024, highlighting strong demand outside, according to a report by Counterpointresearch.com. Exports were dominated by Apple and Samsung, with nearly 94% contribution in overall India’s smartphone exports.