Given the context in the article I imagine its probably that. > the decline in the number of active brands is coming largely from local brands > small brands

Given the context in the article I imagine its probably that. > the decline in the number of active brands is coming largely from local brands > small brands have been largely dependent on white-label devices I'm not suggesting there haven't been some notable big historical innovators who have either completely left the market or are only shells of their former selves. LG, Nokia, HTC, were all big players who used to be innovation leaders in the space who either aren't in the market anymore or in Nokia's case just makes solid midrange phones instead of any big innovations. But yeah, it seems like a large chunk of this drop is just local brands that stuck their own stickers on a white label phone, maybe did a little bit of localization work, stuck it in their own box and sold it as their own device. Maybe some people lost a little bit of local flavor, but I doubt much innovation was lost with most of these brands.