Why Lava’s customisable and upgradeable phones could be a gamechanger

Lava is the latest Indian smartphone brand to mark its comeback in India with its new Z series of smartphones. But Lava is taking a slightly different approach. One, it is only focusing on the budget segment, and two it is offering customers the ability to customize and upgrade their device. The latter is truly
 | 
Why Lava’s customisable and upgradeable phones could be a gamechanger

Lava is the latest Indian smartphone brand to mark its comeback in India with its new Z series of smartphones. But Lava is taking a slightly different approach. One, it is only focusing on the budget segment, and two it is offering customers the ability to customize and upgrade their device. The latter is truly unique in the smartphone segment.

Under its ‘My Z’ and ‘ZUp’ services, Lava is hoping to stand apart from the competition in the specifications driven Indian smartphone market. It also claims the phones are entirely made and designed in India.

Lava has launched two new services in the form of the brand’s My Z and ZUp plans. My Z lets users build their own Lava Z-series phone by choosing their own specifications like RAM, internal storage and even the camera setup, though there are fixed options in this mix.

This allows customers to pay extra for the specifications they want while not spending on elements that might not be as important for them. For instance, a user might choose to spend on extra RAM and storage and stick with a simple dual camera setup. Or they might want a triple camera at the back and a better selfie camera, without going for the highest RAM and storage.

The ZUp plan allows users of the Lava Z2, Z4, Z6 and My-Z phones to upgrade the RAM/internal storage of their phones within the first year of the purchase at a minimal cost.

Lava plans to allow users to choose their exact specifications in the areas they want, without paying more for other specifications that they do not need.

An eye on the budget market The My Z and ZUp strategies are currently only aimed at the budget segment, and this is a smart move. “Since the pandemic started, you’ve seen the budget segment doing well. Until about the end of 2019, there were not too many players in the market. It’s not a very operationally profitable segment to do business for a brand like Xiaomi and Samsung,”