Russia's iPhone alternative falls flat as only 905 units have been sold to consumers

March 24, 2023 By Awanish Kumar

(Image Credit Google)

AYYA T1 smartphone (Image credit : DNS) Over the years, there have been a lot of iPhone competitors. I can immediately think of the LG Voyager, Samsung Instinct, BlackBerry Storm, and Palm Pre as examples of gadgets that were given the moniker. The first two names on our admittedly short list weren't smartphones, so take note of that. Furthermore keep in mind that while all of these phones are no longer in use, the iPhone is still prevalent. Apple stopped selling the iPhone in Russia about a year ago in protest of the conflict in Ukraine. Because of espionage concerns, Kremlin officials have been instructed to stop using the iPhone in the nation by April 1. Huawei, Batman! This sounds remarkably familiar. Yet their government assured those Russians who were afraid they wouldn't be able to buy the newest iPhone model not to worry. The AYYA T1 was created by a Russian defense industry company Rostec's subsidiary as what it claimed to be an iPhone alternative.

Only 18% of the AYYA T1 units produced were sold to consumers

How has that performed, then? Not so good, it seems, since the Russian-language business daily Vedomosti reported that, since the AYYA T1 went on sale in October 2021, fewer than 1,000 units have been bought by Russian consumers. The study states that 905 phones were actually sold. The worst smartphone flop since Amazon had to write down $170 million owing to dismal sales of the Fire Phone is just 18% of the 5,000 handsets produced.

In comparison to the 24.5 million smartphones sold in Russia last year, Denis Kuskov, Head of the Telecom Daily research company, referred to the 905 AYYA T1 units sold as a "statistical error." Russian merchants who sold the phone were obliged by the appalling sales figures to lower the price to 11,000 rubles ($140), which is breakeven. Of course, the phone's creator, Smartecosystem, had to employ Propaganda 101 in order to communicate the price reduction. The business said that the price reduction was a result of its "goal to provide a wide variety of people access to safe technology" and was done as a "special promotion."

The phone's business variation is equipped with Russia's Aurora operating system, while the retail model runs Android 11. Agents of Russian law enforcement and staff of the nation's nuclear power agency use 2,000 of the enterprise units.

By Awanish Kumar

I keep abreast of the latest technological developments to bring you unfiltered information about gadgets.

Russia's iPhone alternative falls flat as only 905 units have been sold to consumers

Only 18% of the AYYA T1 units produced were sold to consumers

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