ControlZ’s phone repair mission, Acerpure’s effective air purifier and AI prices

OPening thoughts. Some of you may think back I had spoken near increasing remembering prices, during our conversation in my other newssheet called neuronic Dispatch, a few weeks ago. Micron, a big memory player, decided this month that it’d be prudent to shut down their consumer business, called Crucial, and instead focus on that “AI-driven growth in the data centre has led to a surge for memory and storage”. They say it is a difficult decision, one that must be taken to improve supply for larger, strategic customers. Basically, they are going all in on AI and data centers because that is where they see the money. In a way this does make business sense, if one looks at it purely from that standpoint, because it isn’t as simple as “make more instead”. But this will be really bad news for PC makers, smartphone makers and gaming consoles, because this is what will happen - shortage of supply > higher prices > rush to buy stock irrespective > costs passed on to customers. Mark my words though — once the AI bubble deflates, and Micron is left looking for solace in the ruins, they’ll make a comeback to the consumer business. And some lucky CEO and CMO will be hailed for “diversifying the company’s business” and “opening new revenue streams in a tough market”. I have this ability to look into the distance (extremely stupid behaviour included), and that is a prime reason for regular headaches.ANALYSIS: AI PRICE WARSGoogle is finally leaning into AI pricing wars in India, versus OpenAI and Perplexity. A few days ago, they added a third, more affordable artificial intelligence (AI) plan for subscribers in India — called Google AI Plus, and is priced at ₹399 per month. First, significantly reduces the monthly subscription outlay compared with the AI Pro plan which costs ₹1,950 per month or the top-tier AI Ultra plan that’s priced at ₹24,500 per month. Second, Google can finally compete with OpenAI’s ₹399 ChatGPT Go subscription plan, and Perplexity’s bundle with Airtel’s prepaid, postpaid, broadband and television services’ customers.Google now has a three-tier ladder, for Gemini AI access — a free option that offers limited usage, AI Plus for prosumers, AI Pro for power users, and Ultra for enterprise-adjacent audiences. The AI Plus plan (a special offer for 6 months prices this at ₹199 per month) bundles 200GB cloud storage (2TB in AI Pro, for comparison), access to all Gemini models including Nano Banana Pro image generation and editing, Deep Research, as well as Flow video generation model as well as NotebookLM are included in this subscription. However, what is not part of this tier is access to Gemini within Google’s apps including Gmail and Docs, as well as no Gemini 3 Pro model with reasoning specifically as part of Google Search (though it’ll be accessible within the Gemini app).AI Plus pricing at ₹399, mirrors OpenAI’s ChatGPT Go subscription in India which the AI company is offering free for a year to those who sign-up, and also sits just below what Perplexity charges for a standalone Pro subscription, even as Airtel customers get Perplexity Pro effectively free for a year. India now has three competing AI ecosystems aggressively courting users, in the hope to unlock revenue streams in the months ahead. Reliance Jio offers the AI Pro plan for its Jio Unlimited 5G users, for a duration of 18 months.EDITOR’S MARGIN: CONTROLZ WANTS TO FIX PHONE REPAIRSSome of you may remember our analysis of renewed smartphone platform ControlZ launching their first experience store. That was just a few months ago, and the platform clearly isn’t in a mood to gently glide into 2026. They’ve just announced a foray into smartphone repair services as well — and it starts with the iPhone. The real cherry on the cake, is that Unlike typical service centres, repairs happen right at your doorstep, The foundation for this is their RenewHub in Gurgaon, which they claim is India’s most advanced refurbishment facility, where every pre-owned phone is put through more than 300 automated checks, with OEM-grade replacement parts used where required. They say, the cost of repairs will be as much as 80% less than a company service centre.Yug Bhatia, Founder and CEO of ControlZ tells me the RenewHub is a “factory-grade line” and not a typical service table that can be inconsistent. I asked Bhatia about the claim of significantly less costly repairs compared with phone makers’ official service centers, and he points to a number of examples. One of those — a replacement display of an iPhone 16 Pro Max at Apple would cost around ₹43,200 while ControlZ will replace the same at ₹15,999. If you’re to consider the battery of the same iPhone (I’m particularly referencing recent phones, because repairs tend to be costlier), Apple would charge ₹7,300 while ControlZ’s part replacement should make you part with around ₹2,999 of your money.The intention is to fix a big trust gap in the market, and Bhatia says its the entire chain which they’ve reworked — from how diagnostic checks are run using a mix of automation and human intervention, access to the same components that phone makers stamp as original, calibrated automation with certain repairs and technicians who are trained for precision. If ControlZ does fix India’s smartphone repair ecosystem, it’ll indeed be a big win not just for them, but also for consumers who often feel the pinch of massive repair bills.TECH SPOTLIGHT: ACERPURE PRO CLASSICA decade ago, when I first started covering the air purifier space extensively (for HT’s sister publication, Mint; fond memories), there was considerable resistance to the idea of these gadgets. And even for those who agreed to its need, there was a perception that only the winter months represent an ‘air purifier season’. Years later, and as I had predicted then, that’s absolutely not the case. Year round, most Indian cities are borderline hazardous in terms of air quality, and if we are to factor in a cocktail of indoor air pollutants as well, things aren’t any better indoors. I’ve always insisted that you need the right fit air purifier for each room at home, and that depends on the room size. Too small a purifier in a large room, and it’ll be rendered ineffective.That takes me to the Acerpure’s new and affordable (this is priced at ₹9,990) Acerpure Pro Classic AP352-10W, which is ideal for medium sized halls, bedrooms, a child’s play room or a study. The basics are nicely pencilled in, with a 360-degree (circular style filters are in vogue, and good news for intake) with three layers — the pre-filter that will capture larger dust and particulate, the HEPA main filter that’s for all pollutants including PM 2.5 as well as smaller ones including various virus, while the activated carbon layer is used to eliminate gaseous pollutants including formaldehyde. While Acer doesn’t mention the HEPA type, this must be the H13 or higher considering this is fine enough to capture 0.1 micron particles as well (many purifier HEPA filters can’t capture smaller than 0.3 micron).In terms of performance, the Acerpure Pro Classic AP352-10W does well to keep the air quality stable. The season we tested this in, with outdoor AQI well above 700, this managed to keep an active medium sized room at a much healthier AQI of around 70, confirmed with an external air quality metering device. Mind you, this was in the Smart mode, which is essentially Acerpure’s version of an auto mode. This is quite sensitive to any air composition changes in the room, and speeds up actively. This is a fairly silent purifier at fan speed one and two, though you’ll expectedly hear a bit of a din at speed level 3.You could say that Acerpure has perhaps culled a few things which are now par for course, likely in an effort to keep costs down. There is no digital air quality meter on the device, and you must look at the colour coded ring on the touch panel. Secondly, no smart features that’d allow for connectivity to a smartphone app, but to be fair, that isn’t a big miss. But at least for the core job of purifying indoor air, the Acerpure Pro Classic AP352-10W certainly ticks the boxes.SECOND THOUGHTS: TELECOM PRICING AND VALUESome of you may have already seen this, but I’m sharing the link for my analysis on the state of India’s telecom. It’s a space that’s constantly evolving, morphing into new contours. As I write this, Jio has announced its 2026 new year prepaid recharge packs (I’d expect Airtel and Vi to match that pricing in the coming days). But that isn’t the only specific point we must talk about today.Vi has announced something called “industry-first handset theft & loss insurance plans”, which basically means prepaid customers can add select prepaid plans as an insurance to their accounts which cover for handset theft or loss. The insured amount is up to ₹25,000 and this is neatly wrapped up with a data bundle and validity period as a collective — ₹61 adds 2GB data for 15 days and insurance for 30 days, ₹201 bundles 10GB data for 30 days with 180 days insurance cover, while the ₹251 pack also bundles 10GB data for 30 days but the insurance cover is for a complete year (and this plan represents best value, in my opinion). For years, telecom companies bundled streaming app subscriptions as value-additions, but Vi’s insurance bundle makes for genuine utility in the long term.ACT Fibernet has announced some pricing and speed changes for its existing home broadband subscribers (and these plans are applicable to new users too), and it’s a spot of good news. For instance, the ₹749 plan with 150Mbps speed makes way for a ₹799 plan with 200Mbps speed. In ACT’s bundle, 50Mbps ( ₹499 onwards), 75Mbps ( ₹599 onwards), 100Mbps ( ₹699 onwards), 400Mbps ( ₹999 onwards) and 1Gbps ( ₹1,999) do offer tremendous value. That is, more speed and less cost than Airtel and Jio’s subscription plans. For instance, Jio charges ₹999 for the 150Mbps home broadband plan, while you’ll be paying ₹1,099 for Airtel’s 200Mbps plan (if you’re lucky to get it; availability is inconsistent for this specific speed option). Not to say either’s bad value, but more speed for a lesser price, tends to generally be a good deal.