In A First, Indian Smartphone Market Crosses 30 Million Shipments
The International Data Corp (IDC) reported on Tuesday (15 November) that the smartphone market in India has crossed the 30 million-unit shipment milestone in the third quarter of this year.
The IDC’s Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker said smartphone shipments clocked 32.3 million units in Q3 2016 with 17.5 per cent growth over the previous quarter.
The Indian market for smartphones is led by Samsung with 23 per cent share followed by Lenovo Group (including Motorola) with 9.6 per cent share of smartphones. Reliance Jio sustained its fifth position in the period despite a healthy 20.9 per cent growth over the previous quarter, whereas Xiaomi made its debut in top five with its shipments getting doubled over the previous quarter.
Karthik J, Senior Market Analyst (Client Devices), IDC India said:
This seasonal spike in third quarter 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… Online share of smartphone increased to 31.6 percent with impressive 35 percent Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) growth due to strong performance by key online players primarily from China-based vendors.
Analysts said migration from feature phones to smartphones had slowed, helping India-based vendors to maintain their dominance in the overall mobile market. 4G smartphone shipments grew 24.8 per cent over the previous quarter in Q3 2016.
Jaipal Singh, who is also Market Analyst (Client Devices) at IDC India, said:
The rollout of Reliance Jio network has further increased the share of 4G-enabled smartphones in India. Seven out of 10 smartphone shipped in Q3 2016 were 4G-enabled and 9 out of 10 smartphone sold by eTailers were 4G.
With inputs from IANS