Smartwatch-maker Fire-Boltt to enter smartphone market with budget 4G, 5G phones

New Delhi: Indian smartwatch-maker FireBoltt is getting ready to enter the highly competitive local smartphone market in August with its Boltt brand of 4G and 5G handsets.

The handsets will be priced Rs 12,000-17,000 and targeted at people for whom established brands of smartphones have become out of reach after recent price hikes, cofounder Arnav Kishore told ET.

FireBoltt is investing upwards of $50 million to launch the smartphones and will operate on thin margins for the initial phase, he said. The company is projecting sales of half a million to one million units in the first three to four months through online platforms and its established offline retail network.


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The move comes amid a slump in demand for smartwatches in India. Fireboltt was third placed in smartwatch shipments in 2025, below Noise and Boat, with its volume falling 52.2%.

“We feel there is a big vacuum for us to enter and repeat the wearable playbook here by bringing a good quality product at the right price. We're looking at entering the affordable price segment, between Rs 12,000 and 17,000, which is what an average consumer today would want,” Kishore said.

The wearables maker is the latest among several Indian brands looking to capitalise on the opportunity in the affordable smartphone segment in India, after Madhav Sheth-led AI+ launched the Nova series of smartphones and IndKal technologies introduced the Acer handsets.

Market trackers said despite high-volume launches, these products have not been able to shift the market significantly towards homegrown players, with Chinese companies maintaining dominance with a market share of well over 80% and Apple expanding its presence in the premium segment with iPhones.

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“We have a distinct advantage in keeping prices affordable. We have locked in our supply chains prior to the current memory crisis and are utilising high-efficient integrations with Chinese ODMs (original device manufacturers) and Indian EMS (electronics manufacturing services) partners,” Kishore said.

The company will test the market initially with a 4G and 5G handset each. There are plans for more models by December aimed at higher-priced segments. The phones will run on a proprietary Android-based operating system with no third-party software, and will be offered in various colour options, he said.

“We have established a team of 50 people in India and a small presence in China and have spent six months engineering the device,” he said. “The assembly is done in India by top EMS partners with 30-40% of the components sourced locally.”