Developed by Rostec, Russia started the production of the smartphone AYYA in the year 2021, which initially came with Android 11. However, is the journey of the creation as simple as it sounds? Or can this technological progress take a political turn?
The AYYA T1 has a 6.56-inch screen and a MediaTek Helio P70 processor. It also has two primary cameras (12 and 5 MP), a 13 MP front camera, 4 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of internal memory that you can expand to 128 GB. But these are some features that any smartphone can have.
So what makes it different, and how does Russia’s smartphone stand out from the rest of the world? Through its features that aim to protect users’ privacy.
Yes, that’s right! One of the AYYA T1’s special features that sets it apart from other smartphones on the market is a button that allows you to turn off the cameras and microphone for privacy.
In 2022, soon after the smartphone’s launch, Business Standard reported that Russia urged its citizens to switch to the domestic smartphone. This was mainly because Apple Inc. announced that it would pause its sales in Russia following Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine.
“Refusing to use the iPhone, Russian State Duma deputies Maria Butina and Denis Maidanov are now urging their fellow parliamentarians to use AYYA T1 smartphones developed by local company Smartecosystem, a subsidiary of the Scale Research Institute, part of the Rostec state corporation,” stated Business Standard.
However, in 2023, reports stated that the much-prompted smartphone did not get the love and support that the country’s politicians and the company were expecting. It has sold less than 1000 units since its production.
Now, let’s look at why this might have been the case.
The AYYA T1 had poor sales, and the undersupply of a CPU chip affected its production. This was partly due to TSMC halting trade with Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
We simply cannot overlook the economic impact and significance of the production of AYYA in Russia and other countries worldwide.
The AYYA smartphone’s introduction aimed to provide a secure, domestically-produced alternative to foreign smartphones.
However, sales have been significantly lower than most people expected, with fewer than 1,000 units sold since its debut as I have already mentioned.
This indicates a minimal direct economic impact on the Russian market. This is especially true in comparison to the dominance of imported smartphones, particularly from China.
Compared to the same period in 2022, industry experts saw a massive change. The market share of Russian-made smartphones decreased by half in the first quarter of 2023, from 1% to 0.5%.
This could lessen AYYA’s economic influence because it implies that it has yet to prove itself a formidable rival to international companies.
Russia’s development of the AYYA smartphone represents an effort to become more technologically self-reliant.
The low sales have limited its immediate economic impact. However, the long-term goal may be to reduce dependence on foreign technology and potentially foster a domestic tech industry.
Additionally, we can see AYYA as Russia’s stand against the world’s leading tech giants. This makes the competition more political than expected.
International sanctions and trade halts, such as those from TSMC, following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, have affected the AYYA smartphone’s reliance on foreign components, such as CPU chips. This underscores the global economy’s interconnectedness and how geopolitical events can impact domestic products.
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