Digital census push drives 50% spike in smartphone sales

Hubballi: The 16th Census of India, described as a large-scale digital exercise, has triggered a surge in smartphone sales by nearly 50% within a month in the state. Around 1.5 lakh enumerators have been appointed, but many devices purchased earlier are incompatible with applications such as Census-2027-Houselisting Operation (HLO) and Digital Layout Map (DLM). As the census relies entirely on mobile-based data collection under the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) system, enumerators have been compelled to buy new smartphones.Akkamahadevi Godachappanavar, a teacher in Gadag district, told TOI that she bought an Android version 10 a year ago. "We were told in the training that we should have Android version 12 or above, with 6 GB RAM for the census. When we checked with the older smartphone, it displayed a warning saying this smartphone is not compatible with the app. Inevitably, four teachers of our school, where 10 teachers are working, bought the new smartphone," she shared.Suraj Raikar, proprietor, Kamakshi Enterprises, Hubballi, noted that he is witnessing a minimum of 2-3 teacher customers per day buying new smartphones at his outlet. "Common customers come with demand of model, battery backup, nice look etc. If someone comes with demand of Android version 12 or above with 6 GB RAM, they will be teachers or officials assigned for the census. They have boosted the sale of smartphones in the last one month in mid-segment. Meanwhile, as all banks are upgrading their apps from May 1, customers are instructed to buy new smartphones to use bank apps. This is also expected to boost sale of smartphones after May 1," he anticipated.Sources in the smartphone market said that prices of smartphones have been hiked by 30% in the last one month due to shortage of supply. "Since production of chipset is affected, prices of low- and mid-end smartphones have been hiked," they stated.Siddharth Hattikal, proprietor, Recall Communications Hubballi, observed that customers, especially teachers, are buying smartphones with normal, mid and premium processors. "However, some teachers and officials, who have high-end smartphones like iPhone, are preferring to buy second-hand sets temporarily. Since they have to spend a minimum of Rs 17,500 for a new set, they are buying genuine second-hand sets at the cost of Rs 7-8,000. Once the census is over, they want to resell these phones," he shared.