The Indian smartphone market surpassed the 30 million mark in terms of shipments for the first time ever. The smartphone shipments in India reached 32.3 million units for the first time ever in the current year of 2016.
According to IDC's quarterly mobile phone tracker, the smartphone shipments in India registered a solid 17.5 percent growth over the previous quarter. "This seasonal spike in third quarter of the year can be attributed to the channel preparation for the festive season, mega online sales and early import of smartphones owing to Chinese holidays in October” says Karthik J, Senior Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India.
The online smartphone market share grew to 31.6 percent with a 35 percent growth quarter-on-quarter because of strong performance by Chinese smartphone makers. Lenovo group leads the pack in the online smartphone market, followed by Xiaomi. “Lenovo Group accounts for almost one-fourth of total online smartphone shipments driven primarily by Lenovo's K5 series and Motorola's G4 series models. Also, Xiaomi's Redmi Note 3 and newly launched Redmi 3S fuelled the online shipments to a large extent," adds Karthik.
The highlight of IDC's numbers is the growth in the 4G smartphone sales. IDC says 4G smartphone shipments in Q3 2016 saw growth of 24.8 percent over Q2 2016. The rollout of Reliance Jio's 4G services is seen as the key driver in demand for 4G enabled smartphones. IDC notes 7 out of every 10 smartphones sold were 4G enabled while 9 out of every 10 devices sold by online retailers were 4G compliant.
Samsung continues to control the smartphone market with 23 percent share, an 8 percent sequential growth and 9.7 percent growth from the Q3 2015. Lenovo Group (including Motorola) climbed to second spot displacing Micromax with a share of 9.6 percent. Lenovo Group saw a growth of 46.1 percent over previous quarter. IDC says Motorola's volume almost doubled quarter-on-quarter on the back of new launches.
Micromax's smartphone shipments saw a decline of 32 percent dragging it down to number 3 in the Indian market. Micromax is facing exreme pressure from Chinese smartphone makers in the sub $150 segment. Xiaomi makes its debut in the top 5 for the first time with a market share of 7.4 percent, primarily driven by its online portfolio. The company doubled its smartphone shipments and Redmi Note 3 continues to be one of the best selling smartphone in India. Reliance LYF rounds up the top 5 list with a share of 7 percent.
Overall the mobile phone market shipments came in at 72.3 million units, an 18.1 percent sequential growth. Feature phones continue to outsell in India, regostering 39.9 million units in Q3 2016.
"Mobile vendor ecosystem is going through a multi-dimensional transition. Continuous investment from China based vendors on retail expansion and high decibel marketing has led to disruption in the plans of home-grown vendors to some extent. To remain relevant, home-grown vendors are counting on the feature phone market even though they are facing certain supply issues for a few components" says Jaipal Singh, Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India. "Also, vendors are relooking at the channel strategy by getting lower tier distributors on-board, positioning more staff at storefronts and adopting the right mix of products in both online and offline channels" adds Singh.
IDC reports the migration from feature phones to smartphone has slowed down, which has helped Indian OEMs to maintain their dominance. New entrants like Itel and Zen Mobile have more than doubled their shipments over the previous quarter.