India logs smartphone shipment growth of 186% in 1Q

05 Jun 2014

1

India emerged the highest growing market in Asia Pacific with a year-on-year smartphone shipment growth of over 186 per cent in 1Q 2014.

As a large number of the country's user base migrated to smartphones from feature phones, the Indian smartphone market outshone other emerging markets like China which registered a year-on-year growth of 31 per cent in 1Q 2014.

Smartphone penetration in India still hovers at 10 per cent and is expected to grow due to a variety of factors including greater availability of low-cost devices and additional sales emphasis by top-flight vendors on less populous parts of the country.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the overall India mobile phone market stood at close to 61.07 million units in 1Q 2014 which is a 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter dip and a mere 1 per cent year-on-year growth.

The dip in the overall mobile phone market shipments can be attributed to the 18-per cent decline in the feature phone shipments from 4Q 2013 to 1Q 2014.

This was offset by the smartphone market, where units shipped grew by close to 17 per cent in 1Q 2014 compared to 4Q 2013. The consistent growth in the smartphone market is driven by enhanced consumer preference for smart devices and narrowing price differences.

The share of feature phones in the overall market further slipped to 71 per cent in 1Q 2014 which is a considerable decrease from 90 per cent share in 1Q 2013.

''As more vendors continue to launch low-priced smartphone models, the price gap between feature phones and smartphones will be narrowed, driving rampant user migration in the price sensitive Indian market,'' says Manasi Yadav, senior market analyst at IDC India.

''This rapid pace of growth in smartphones is expected to continue in India. While we notice that much of the growth is coming from low-cost devices using the Android operating system, Windows is making adequate gains too based on the strength of the entry level product mix in smartphones,'' comments Kiran Kumar, research manager- client devices at IDC India.

Top Five Smartphone Vendors:

  • Samsung maintained its leadership in the smartphone market with 35 per cent market share in 1Q 2014. High volumes came in from the low-end devices like S7262 Galaxy Star Pro Dual SIM and Galaxy S Duos 2 S7582.
  • Micromax held onto its 2nd position with approximately 15 per cent market share. The top selling models for Micromax came in from the low-end Bolt Series.
  • Karbonn was 3rd position with approximately 10 per cent market share. Its low-end range of 2G smartphones did well in 1Q 2014.
  • LAVA climbed to the 4th position with close to 6 per cent market share. New XOLO launches like A500S and A500 have fared well.
  • Nokia made its way back to the top 5 list with about 4 per cent market share. The Nokia X launch coupled with other low-end Lumia phones helped in improving the overall performance of the brand.

IDC anticipates that the migration from feature phones to smartphones will increase as cheaper variants of smartphones are launched in the market.

Growth in the smartphone segment is expected to outshine the overall handset market growth in the foreseeable future.

According to the 1Q 2014 lDC forecast, the India smartphone shipments will reach 80.57 million units by the end of CY 2014. IDC expects that the Indian smartphone market will grow at a CAGR of about 40 per cent for the next 5 years.



 

Business History Videos

History of hovercraft Part 3...

Today I shall talk a bit more about the military plans for ...

By Kiron Kasbekar | Presenter: Kiron Kasbekar

History of hovercraft Part 2...

In this episode of our history of hovercraft, we shall exam...

By Kiron Kasbekar | Presenter: Kiron Kasbekar

History of Hovercraft Part 1...

If you’ve been a James Bond movie fan, you may recall seein...

By Kiron Kasbekar | Presenter: Kiron Kasbekar

History of Trams in India | ...

The video I am presenting to you is based on a script writt...

By Aniket Gupta | Presenter: Sheetal Gaikwad

view more