Only 18% of the AYYA T1 units produced were sold to consumers
Russia’s AYYA T1 smartphone has had less than 1,000 units sold
Denis Kuskov, CEO of the Telecom Daily research firm, called the 905 AYYA T1 units sold a “statistical error” compared to the 24.5 million smartphones sold last year in Russia. The putrid sales figure forced Russian retailers carrying the phone to reduce the price to 11,000 rubles ($140) which is breakeven. Of course, explaining the price cut required the phone’s developer, Smartecosystem, to use Propaganda 101. The company said that it dropped the price as a “special promotion” and was due to the company’s “desire to grant a wide range of users access to secure technology.”
The phone is powered by a 12nm MediaTek Helio P70 SoC
Retailers defended the poor sales of the AYYA T1 by saying that most units were given out to employees of the state leaving very few units available for consumers to buy. The phone sports a 6.5-inch LCD display with a 60Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 720 x 1600. It is powered by the MediaTek Helio P70 SoC built using TSMC’s 12nm process node. The device is equipped with 4GB of RAM and the camera array on the back includes 12MP and 5MP cameras. A front-facing 13MP selfie camera is in front.
Keeping the lights on is a 4000mAh battery with a USB-C charging port. There is no 5G connectivity, but there is a microSD slot with a capacity of 128GB. A cursory look at the specs indicates why the phone has not been a big seller in the country and while Apple has stopped iPhone sales for more than a year, those who already own an iPhone can still use it.
Apple did limit the Maps app so that citizens fleeing the country can’t be tracked by the live traffic feature.
Apple Pay functionality has been sharply reduced but the App Store remains open so that Russians can continue to spend their rubles on paid apps. It isn’t known when Apple will reopen sales of the iPhone, iPad and Macs in the country but we would imagine that it won’t happen unless Russia ends the war or reaches some peace agreement with Ukraine.