"Still in love with YU": Micromax Dismisses Shutdown Rumors

A couple of years back, Rahul Sharma, the Micromax co-founder announced a new sub-brand called “Yu.” The brand was then targeted at geeky buyers who were looking out an affordable smartphone bundled with the best hardware options. With the flash sales in vogue, Yu was created in order to tap the online market and thus it was meant to remain as an online exclusive. As per a report on TeleAnalysis, Micromax has already shut down YU televentures. But our own sources at Micromax have dismissed this outright.

Yu managed to ruffle some feathers as it was the first smartphone from India to be powered by the now defunct Cyanogen OS. The brand tried to emulate the Chinese powerhouse, Xiaomi, by diversifying into non-smartphone products like portable printers and fitness brands. In the initial days, Yu garnered a good response and it was the time when Micromax was leading the sales chart and was ahead of its competitors. The brand also boasted about its connected ecosystem and how they would float a range of products to complete the same.

In a recent meetup with the media, Rahul Sharma did acknowledge how the company failed to crack the online market but had hinted about more YU-branded smartphones coming soon.

During the recent Dual 5 unveiling, we were shown some future products from the YU stable, something which we are not at liberty to talk about. That gels well with what our sources inside Micromax are claiming right now.

That said, YU has been very quiet after a very aggressive start. And given the brouhaha over Qiku rebranding, some people might be tempted to take every statement Micromax makes with some salt.

All said and done, it would be great if the brand stays around as competition is always good. But to be present in the mind and in the market are two different things.

Update: Just after this post went live, there is this tweet from the official account of Yu.