Samsung leads the market with 13.1% growth
One out of three smartphones shipped in the Indian market in the third quarter of this year were “4G” enabled, according to a new report published by International Data Corp.
IDC’s Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker reported a total of 28.3 million smartphones were shipped to India in Q3 2015, an increase of 21.4% compared to 23.3 million units in the same period last year. In Q3, the shipment of 4G-enabled devices experienced a three-fold increase vs. the second quarter, according to the report.
IDC Research Manager Kiran Kumar said, “4G enabled devices are expected to be at the forefront, with the entire ecosystem preparing for this shift in the near future.”
According to the consultancy firm, the share of smartphones will surpass the share of feature phones in the Indian market in 2016. IDC also forecasts the Indian smartphone market will maintain a double-digit growth over the next few years.
“E-tailers such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon continue to drive shipments of the Chinese vendors, [which] have been aggressively trying to capture the 4G smartphone market in India,” IDC analyst Karthik J said. “The closing weeks of the quarter witnessed incremental supplies as many vendors were preparing their channels in lieu of the festive season and online mega-sale programs.”
According to the IDC report, South Korean vendor Samsung continues to lead the Indian smartphone market with a 13.1% sequential growth in Q3 2015, compared to the second quarter. The increase in volume was mainly due to higher sales of LTE-based smartphones such as Galaxy Grand Prime 4G, Galaxy J and Galaxy A series. The South Korean firm ended the quarter with 24% market share.
Micromax retained the second position in Q3 with a 6.4% sequential growth, taking its share to 16.7%, while Intex secured the No. 3 position with a 9.4% sequential growth in Q3, taking its share in the local smartphone market to 10.8%.
