India continued to be the fastest growing smartphone market in Asia Pacific with a quarter-on-quarter growth of 27% in Q3 2014 (July – September), with no major changes in the top five vendors. Even as Samsung and Micromax held on to their one and two positions, there seems to be a tough fight for the number 3 slot between Lava and Karbonn, both of which has an 8 per cent market share, said a report from International Data Corporation (IDC).
By Nandagopal Rajan
The market observed exceptional growth owing to festive demand and recorded a new high in smartphone shipments in Q3 2014. As a result the overall mobile phone market stood at 72.5 million units in Q3 2014, a 15% quarter-on-quarter growth and a 9% year-on-year growth, IDC said.
“With 6% contribution in the overall smartphone market, phablets are observed to be hitting a plateau. On the other hand smartphone with screen size between 4.5 inches and 5.5inches are seen as the sweet spot for consumer preference. Consumer need higher screen size phone to enjoy media content and with the 4G rollout expected in CY2015, we expect the phablets segment to pick up again,” said Kiran Kumar, Research Manager, Client Devices IDC India.
Among smartphone vendors Samsung continued as the market leader with 24% market share though at a lower growth rate compared to the industry average. Micromax increased its market share from 18% in Q2 2014 to 20% in Q3 2014. Lava has witnessed growth in both ‘Lava’ and ‘Xolo’ brands, currently treated as independent lines of business. Karbonn too had an 8% market shared with 85% of shipment volume supported by handsets priced less than $100. Motorola held on to its fifth spot thanks to the fresh line up of 2nd generation handset.
In the overall Mobile phone market, Q3 2014 has been one of the quarters where feature phone shipments recorded double digit quarter on quarter growth of 10%. However, contribution of feature phone in Q3 2014 compared with the same period of CY2013 shows a de-growth of 9% as large number of users continue to migrate to Smartphones, said the IDC report.