Lava International, which manufactures several consumer electronics, has become the first Indian brand to release 5G handsets for local users.

The home-grown electronic company has developed the 'Agni' smartphone, which is being manufactured at their facilities in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

Sunil Raina, president and business head, Lava International said: "The purpose of launching Agni is to give Indian consumers the choice of a made in India 5G smartphone for Indians by an Indian company. We wanted to establish before people that there can be an Indian brand which is technology-oriented.”

He claims that Agni's price of Rs 19,999 is competitive when compared to Chinese products that currently dominate the Indian market and the smartphone will have a 6.78-inch full high-definition plus IPS punch-hole display.

According to Raina, “We have beaten most of the Chinese brands in specification” and this showcases that Indian companies, at least Lava, are capable of constructing a phone from scratch while joining a highly competitive segment “and lead the show”.

Additionally, he said: “On pricing, we are offering Agni 5G for Rs 17,999 on pre-booking."

In the case of specifications, the phone's screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass for increased durability and it has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

In comparison to Chinese businesses selling smartphones with the same Mediatek 5G processor, Lava has placed higher camera specifications. The Lava Agni 5G will sport a 64-megapixel primary camera, a 5-megapixel wide-angle camera, a 2-megapixel depth camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera, as well as a 16-megapixel front camera.

Moreover, according to Raina, the Lava Agni 5G boasts a big 5000 mAh battery and a 30W rapid charger that charges the phone to full capacity in less than 90 minutes.

From 18 November, the Lava Agni 5G will be available in stores as well as on Amazon and Flipkart. Users can pre-book from 9 November to 17 November on the Lava e-store and Amazon by paying a Rs 500 pre-booking fee.

In terms of the market of 5G phones in India, according to industry analyst CMR, these smartphones continued to grow in popularity in the country, accounting for 22 per cent of the market share in the third quarter of 2021. With customers trying to future-proof themselves and companies prioritising 5G phones, the market share of 5G phones has continued to rise.

CMR Analyst-Industry Intelligence Group Shipra Sinha said that during the third quarter of 2021, five brands—OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Samsung and Vivo—shipped more than $3 billion in 5G smartphones.