Together again: foreign electronics manufacturers are once again betting on Russian services

Foreign manufacturers of smartphones, tablets and other consumer electronics are gradually expanding their cooperation with Russian developers. In addition to a noticeable increase in advertising activity, foreign brands are once again beginning to integrate domestic applications into their devices through commercial pre-installation. Market participants believe that this trend indicates the restoration of business relations between foreign vendors and Russian IT companies. Izvestia found out how this process is going and what to expect in the future.

Return to the market

Many foreign vendors are ready to resume full-fledged cooperation with the Russian market after a period of wait-and-see and a freeze in activity in 2022 due to sanctions pressure. Sergey Plugotarenko, an expert in the Internet industry, notes in an interview with Izvestia the stabilization of the situation and the restoration of commercial relations, including agreements on the pre-installation of applications.

At the same time, foreign brands are increasing their marketing activity in Russia. For example, according to TelecomDaily, in January — February 2025, Samsung's advertising investments increased by 30% compared to the same period of the previous year.

In 2026, Beeline and Ozon conducted a joint campaign to promote Xiaomi smartphones. The buyers were offered a 2-in-1 kit: a smartphone for a nominal price with bonus funds for communication services. The campaign was aimed at parents of schoolchildren choosing affordable devices for children.

In addition, in 2025, investments by Chinese advertisers in promoting mobile applications in Russia more than doubled to $35 million, and the number of advertisers from China increased by 30%.

Commercial presets

The activity of foreign manufacturers is noticeable in several directions at once. So, if earlier only foreign neural networks were available as AI assistants on Android smartphones by default - for example, Google's Gemini - then in July 2026, the domestic Alice AI neural network appeared in the Android system settings. Earlier, the Alice AI assistant appeared on Realme smartphones and is integrated into Huawei devices. The Yandex press service confirmed to Izvestia that the company cooperates with the largest manufacturers of mobile devices. Depending on the project, cooperation is based both on a commercial basis and within the framework of strategic partnerships.

Other Russian services are also actively entering into partnerships. Chinese vendors (Xiaomi, Tecno, Vivo, Realme, Infinix, Itel) have started pre-installing the domestic RuStore app store since 2023. Since September 2025, Samsung has been pre-installing the Maks messenger on smartphones designed for the Russian market based on commercial agreements.

According to Wu Nguyen, Director of Mobile advertising Procurement at Deft by Okkam, commercial presets have become one of the fastest growing areas of the Russian mobile advertising market in recent years. E-commerce services, geolocation applications, online cinemas and popular utilities are showing the greatest interest in them.

The expert also notes that for the second year in a row, a new smartphone manufacturer with a million active devices is entering the Russian market, offering commercial pre-installation capabilities. As the audience grows, such companies begin to develop their own advertising platforms and app stores.

Beneficial to all market participants

The return of foreign manufacturers to cooperation with Russian developers is beneficial to all market participants. Vendors increase the attractiveness of devices for Russian customers — they receive familiar services immediately after purchasing the device, and Russian IT companies provide an additional channel for promoting their products.

Russian services benefit from a guaranteed presence on the device from the first time they turn it on. However, not everyone can get on the first screens of smartphones. "Only those who already have a large and stable audience, proven demand, adaptation to the local market and security guarantees can apply for pre—installation," notes Denis Kuskov, CEO of the TelecomDaily news agency.

Sergey Plugotarenko emphasizes that in order to gain a real competitive advantage in the local market, a vendor must clearly understand the needs of the Russian user, and it is commercially demanded applications that can satisfy them. "We are talking about commercial favorite services that are very necessary for the user, but which are not included in the "pre—installed set of applications" according to the law of 2021," he adds. For modern consumers, especially those who are not the most technically advanced, having such a ready-made ecosystem means saving time and effort, eliminating the need to manually download and configure applications. It is this configuration that makes the device maximally adapted to local realities and convenient to use, the expert believes.