BANGALORE: Smartphone shipments in India more than tripled in the third quarter of 2013 compared to the same period last year, according to the latest industry data, suggesting the smartphone market will continue its high rate of growth.
Analysis from the International Data Corporation (IDC), the technology market intelligence provider, found 12.8m smartphones were shipped in Q3 2013 compared to 3.8m units in Q3 2012, while shipments also increased by almost 28% since the second quarter of 2013.
Smartphones now account for 19% of the overall mobile phone market compared to 7% in Q3 2012 even though the feature phone market grew by 3% in Q3 2013 over Q2 2013.
The overall mobile phone market recorded 12% year-on-year growth and quarterly growth of 7% since Q2 2013.
IDC said a narrowing price gap between feature phones and smartphones was the main driver for the rapid shift of consumer preference towards smartphones and it expected this development to continue in the near future.
"The growth in the smartphone market continues to drive the overall growth numbers for the phone market – given that there's still a huge potential for smartphone penetration in India, this trend is expected to continue in the coming quarters," said IDC India analyst Manasi Yadav.
Boosted by new product launches, Samsung and Nokia made inroads against local manufacturers, such as Micromax, Karbonn and others, and the two international brands now have almost 30% of the overall mobile phone market between them.
Samsung also dominated the smartphone sector, taking 32.9% market share in Q3 2013 followed by Micromax on 17.1%, Karbonn on 11.2%, Nokia on 5% and Lava, another Indian vendor, which made it into the top five for the first time with 4.7% market share.
IDC said Samsung's performance was underpinned by its low-to-mid tier phones, such as Galaxy S Duos and Galaxy Star, while Micromax benefited from a dedicated marketing and advertising drive.
Karbonn's Titanium range of phones proved popular, especially its S5 and S2 models, and IDC also expected Nokia's Lumia range to continue to grow.
Analysis from the International Data Corporation (IDC), the technology market intelligence provider, found 12.8m smartphones were shipped in Q3 2013 compared to 3.8m units in Q3 2012, while shipments also increased by almost 28% since the second quarter of 2013.
Smartphones now account for 19% of the overall mobile phone market compared to 7% in Q3 2012 even though the feature phone market grew by 3% in Q3 2013 over Q2 2013.
The overall mobile phone market recorded 12% year-on-year growth and quarterly growth of 7% since Q2 2013.
IDC said a narrowing price gap between feature phones and smartphones was the main driver for the rapid shift of consumer preference towards smartphones and it expected this development to continue in the near future.
"The growth in the smartphone market continues to drive the overall growth numbers for the phone market – given that there's still a huge potential for smartphone penetration in India, this trend is expected to continue in the coming quarters," said IDC India analyst Manasi Yadav.
Boosted by new product launches, Samsung and Nokia made inroads against local manufacturers, such as Micromax, Karbonn and others, and the two international brands now have almost 30% of the overall mobile phone market between them.
Samsung also dominated the smartphone sector, taking 32.9% market share in Q3 2013 followed by Micromax on 17.1%, Karbonn on 11.2%, Nokia on 5% and Lava, another Indian vendor, which made it into the top five for the first time with 4.7% market share.
IDC said Samsung's performance was underpinned by its low-to-mid tier phones, such as Galaxy S Duos and Galaxy Star, while Micromax benefited from a dedicated marketing and advertising drive.
Karbonn's Titanium range of phones proved popular, especially its S5 and S2 models, and IDC also expected Nokia's Lumia range to continue to grow.
Data sourced from IDC; additional content by Warc staff
