Samsung maintained the first spot despite drop in market share.
Dileep Thekkethil
A new report released by the Counterpoint, which is an independent market research and consulting firm, says that India has surpassed the US to become the second biggest smartphone market in the world with an annual growth rate of 15%.
According to the report, the Indian smartphone shipment grew 23% and has now crossed the milestone of 100 million units. This is the first time ever that India has pushed ahead of the US in the smartphone user base which now stands at 220 million.
The report also says that out of the total mobile phones shipped in India, more than 40% were smartphones out of which more than one in two smartphones shipped during the quarter 4 of 2015 (Oct-Dec) supported 4G LTE technology.
It says PM Narendra Modi’s Make India Campaign has played a pivotal role in helping India beat the US. More than half of the smartphones sold in India during the quarter were made under the Make in India project, which is a great achievement for the Modi Government. Adding to this, about 20 smartphone manufacturers are currently manufacturing smartphones in their own facilities in India.
The report says “domestic brands such as Intex and Lava have considerably closed the gap with the second largest mobile phone or the number one domestic mobile phone brand Micromax.”
Giving a positive signal to the booming online marketplace in India, the report says that one in three smartphones were bought online. This is attributed to the internet-only strategy followed by a few smartphone makers and the flash sale models which is not newer to Indian e-retail hoppers.
Samsung was the leader in the overall mobile market in India with a market share of 23% in mobile phones and 28.6% in smartphones respectively. The most successful smartphone of the south Korean giant was its J series which was launched in multiple SKUs in the entry to the mid-level segment. Samsung’s achievement comes in the backdrop of a stern competition put in by both Chinese and Indian smartphone makers. But on the contrary to the success, the company continues to lose its market share in India in the sub $100 segment, which is now trending in the country.
The Indian smartphone manufacturer, Micromax retained its second position in the overall smartphone market and mobile phone market with a market share of 3.7% and 14.3% respectively. However, Micromax had a tough time competing with its Indian counter parts who invested heavily in advertising and other promotions to get a significant share in $50-$100 price segment, which led to the decline in shipment of Micromax during the quarter.
During this quarter, Micromax also launched it costliest phone ever through its subsidiary company Yu, a high-end LET model ‘Yutopia’. Yu which is an internet-only brand crossed the 2-million-unit mark showing significant growth rate in its user base who are largely internet savvy. The company is also planning to scale up Yu ecosystem to deeply integrating O2O services such as “Around Yu”.
Intex which is a fairly new Indian manufacture made it to the third position in the overall handset market with a market share of 13% and 10.4% in mobile and smartphones respectively. Despite its overall growth, Intex lost to Lenovo for the third spot in the smartphone market. However, it ended the year as third largest smartphone vendor with a market share of 10.4% driven by growth in entry-level smartphones.
Market share of other smartphones (Courtesy of Counterpoint)
- Lava(excluding Xolo) maintained the fourth spot in the overall handset market and 7% share in the smartphone market in Q4 2015 with healthy demand for Lava Iris and Flair
- Lenovoincluding Motorola raced to third position in smartphone segment for the first time ever in India surpassing Intex with a market share of 11% during the quarter.
- Lenovo was also the second largest LTE player during the quarter and for the entire year.
- Meanwhile, Apple achieved a landmark – crossing 2 Million units in a calendar year for the first time ever in India, helped by a strong fourth quarter.
- Apple still only commands 2% volume share of smartphones, though its high prices means it had the third largest revenue share in 2015. This highlights the prowess of Apple’s brand equity and control over high-value & high-profit premium segment.
- Microsoft lost its place among the top five brands in a quarter for the first time ever as Lumia shipments declined sequentially and annually.
- Meanwhile, other brands that grew significantly during the quarter included the Chinese playersOneplus, Coolpad and Meizu.
- 2016 will be a highly competitive year as brands such as Huawei(with Honor), LeTV and Vivo expand with aggressive offerings to compete head-on with other Indian and Chinese players
- The comprehensive and in-depth Q4 2015 and CY 2015 Market Monitor is available for subscribing clients. Please feel free to contact us at analyst@counterpointresearch.com for further questions regarding our in-depth latest research, insights or press enquiries.
- The Market Monitor research is based on sell-in (shipments) estimates based on vendor’s reported results, vendor polling triangulated with sell-through (sales), supply chain checks and secondary research.
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