Esta vivo despite false bites
In the mobile world, 2025 proved a counterintuitive truth that innovation cannot guarantee commercial successes. After years of exuberant launches, and generous consumer demand, the tech sector entered a disciplined phase. Buyers became selective, channels unforgiving, and corporate boards asked harder questions about the product launches. In a year of muted growth, tech held steady but the consumers invested wisely. The result: While a few products succeeded by aligning with the realities, others faltered despite hyped launches, backed by marketing. The flips and flops, successes and failures had varying impact on the makers, as it turned out to be a war between America, South Korea, and China in India.
Slim smartphone was a category that failed in its own arithmetic, calculations, and math. In 2025, Samsung and Apple extended the virtues of thinness, and overexaggerated the customers’ responses. Apple’s iPhone Air, and Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge were among the most closely-watched launches of 2025. Both attempted to revive the excitement at the high end of the market through a familiar, yet risky, idea of using extreme thinness as a differentiator. In theory, the logic was sound. Lighter phones, sleeker profiles, and premium aesthetics promised to reframe desirability among the buyers. In practice, the sales told a less flattering story.
According to a few channel checks, Apple reduced the production targets for the iPhone Air within months of launch, as sales lagged expectations. Retail discounting appeared earlier than planned in multiple markets, including India and parts of Southeast Asia. Samsung scaled back the output of Galaxy S25 Edge after weak initial demand, and reportedly shelved the plans for a successor model in 2026. Historically, Apple’s Plus variants account for 15-20 per cent of the non-Pro iPhone shipments globally, according to Counterpoint Research. They serve buyers who want larger screens, and bigger batteries without stepping up to the Pro Max pricing.
The iPhone Air replaced this role with thinness, but did not offer a compensating benefit in battery life or price. Sales data underlined the mismatch. According to IDC, Apple shipped nearly five million iPhones in India in Q3-2025, its highest quarterly volume. However, the demand was concentrated in the standard and Pro models, not the much-touted iPhone Air. Apple grew despite the Air, not because of it. A few media reports indicate that despite the aerial setback, the company plans the iPhone Air-2 in 2026, and incorporates a couple of features that are available in iPhone 17 Pro models.
The first iPhone Air failed to replicate the roles played by Apple’s Plus models, which had clear and defensible use for the buyers. Thinness, by contrast, did not solve a practical problem. In fact, it introduced trade-offs, particularly around the battery life at a time when consumers prioritised endurance over elegance. The second one, according to media articles, may feature a vapour chamber, which is available in 17 Pro and Pro Max. It is, according to an article, “designed to help maintain higher sustained performance while keeping the device cooler. Additionally, it can reduce performance slowdowns during tasks such as gaming or photography.”
Samsung’s experience was harsher. Data by Counterpoint shows that the firm’s global smartphone shipments declined year-on-year in early 2025, and Apple briefly emerged as the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume in the first quarter of 2025 (calendar year). Samsung’s S25 Edge did little to arrest that slide. The issue was not one of execution but positioning. Despite competitive specifications and aggressive marketing, the device failed to meaningfully shift the firm’s shipment mix. Media reports suggest that Samsung has shelved the plans for a follow-up slim flagship, and tacitly acknowledged that the category lacks mass appeal.
The irony is that despite a few bites of the air, Apple ended the year on an upswing. Data from IDC shows that Apple’s India shipments grew by more than 20 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2025 (calendar year), even as the smartphone market expanded marginally. By the festive quarter, Apple shipped five million iPhones in India, its strongest quarterly performance in the country. Counterpoint data shows that the firm’s Indian market share in India reached the high levels due to aggressive financing, deeper retail penetration, and strong resale value. Exports from the Indian factories to the US grew despite the American tariffs.
Globally, Canalys estimates that Apple shipped 55 million iPhones in Q1-2025, a double-digit year-on-year increase in a flat market. Hence, the firm demonstrated that the demand for premium products exists. It needs to be tied to ecosystem strength, and channel execution, not form-factor experimentation. In business terms, 2025 reinforced Apple’s core strength. It can afford a product misfire. However, 2026 may be a testing year as it will introduce another product line, foldables. It will be exciting to watch if the loyalists flock to the Pro, commit to the safe zone, and refuse to take a bite off the new apple, or pick the more premium and innovative fold-phone?
Vivo’s story in India illustrated a different success story. Through 2025, it retained the position as the largest smartphone brand by shipments, according to Counterpoint and IDC. In the first half of the year, India shipped an estimated 70 million smartphones, but growth was modest at under one per cent year-on-year. Vivo commanded a 19 per cent share during this period, which reflected a 23.5 per cent year-on-year increase in volumes. During the year, multiple Chinese brands struggled with inventory correction, and channel pressure, but Vivo held the share through disciplined portfolio management, strong offline presence, and predictable refresh cycles.
Vivo’s performance was not powered by a single breakout model. It was fueled by a balanced portfolio across price bands. Devices such as the Vivo X200 FE and the Vivo V60e helped it cover both value and mass-market segments. Premium offerings supported share gains without diluting volumes. In 2025, compact phones made a comeback. From Apple to OnePlus, different makers tried to make a mark with the various models. The clear winner in this category was the Vivo X200 FE. 2025 underscores a broader shift in the Indian market. Scale and success favour brands that manage portfolio complexity, balance offline and online channels, and sustain volumes across price tiers, even as premium adoption rises. New launches do not guarantee success, although they may become the talking points, and keep the names of brands and firms alive.
