India’s smartphone market continues to record powerful growth, new data shows, with Chinese handset brands dominating the market by sales.

Consultants EY forecast the number of smartphone users will more than double to 650 million by 2022, with average monthly data usage rising by 500% to reach 18GB a month.

The EY research shows that the average smartphone user in India currently spends four hours daily on their device.

By 2022, EY also says, India’s digital economy is likely to be worth $1 trillion and lead to the creation of 10 million jobs, the Economic Times reported.

Separately, data from Counterpoint Research, also reported by the Economic Times, shows Chinese brands dominate the Indian smartphone market by sales.

Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Honor, along with Lenovo-Motorola, One-Plus and Infinix, account for more than 50% of total sales so far in the 2018 financial year, Counterpoint said. Indian consumers spent a total of Rs 500bn ($6.8bn) on Chinese smartphone brands – double last year’s spend.

Chinese brands specifically dominate India’s premium ($400-plus) smartphone market, according to Counterpoint, by offering lower prices than those for equivalent Korean, Japanese and Indian devices.

Chinese manufacturers have successfully established themselves as global brands in India, and phone buyers there favour multinational brands. Chinese brands also typically offer creative purchase options, such as trade-ins and buy-backs, 0% credit purchase plans, and instant cashbacks. Such deals are highly attractive to buyers, the report said, especially to young consumers.

The devices on offer also have specifications that appeal specifically to buyers looking to move up from mid-range phones, including features such as full-screen displays, fingerprint and facial-recognition security, dual cameras, and speedier processors.

Overall sales of smartphones grew 5% in the September quarter, Counterpoint reported, reaching a record high of 44 million units. Xiaomi was the biggest-selling Chinese brand during that time, with 27% market share, followed by Samsung on 23%, Vivo at 10%, Micromax with 9%, and Oppo with 8%.

“Even though the quarter started modestly, smartphone shipments picked up and reached an all-time record due to strong sell-in by brands in August and September,” Counterpoint Research Analyst Anshika Jain said.

Sourced from Economic Times; additional content by WARC staff