Samsung is the top Indian smartphone vendor for Q2, 2017 in the country. (Source: Reuters)
Samsung remains the number one Indian smartphone for the second quarter of 2017, according to data from research firm CMR. It also adds Samsung has now been the number one player in the market for six consecutive years, including 2017. However, the major growth in the market is still driven by the Chinese brands. CMR says the competition is now among the Chinese players, rather than the Indian vs Chinese brands.
According to CMR’s data, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Vivo, Oppo saw growth between 7 to 33 per cent in smartphones. While iTel was the exception with growth of 293 per cent, but that was on a small unit base. “As smartphones complete their first decade in India, Samsung will continue to enjoy the market leadership, 6th time in a row. It will continue to leverage the offline physical reach and access, there has to be a strategy for each of the geo-markets in the country Samsung will have to adopt,” said Thomas George, SVP & Head CMR in a press statement.
CMR’s report shows 61.8 million mobiles were shipped in the Q2, 2017, of which nearly 54 per cent were feature phones and the category saw a 9 per cent sequential growth. With JioPhone set to enter the market, we could see a further rise in these numbers, as other brands will also try and compete in the category.
In the smartphone category, Xiaomi remains at number two, behind Samsung, but CMR says the Chinese firm was responsible for reviving the Rs 4,000-Rs 6,000 price segment, which saw 55 per cent sequential growth. “The entry level market of smartphone will see some growth primarily due to attempts by various handset makers to counter the emergence of 4G feature phones. This should also see support of incumbent operators who are seeing revenues eroding at the hands of Jio’s entry into the market,” siad Faisal Kawoosa, Principal Analyst, Telecom and ESDM,.
The price segment of Rs 8,000 – Rs 10,000 will also see an upward trend, according to CMR, with 3G users upgrading to 4G. The firm says out of the estimated 350 million smartphone users, 150-160 million have a 4G smartphone, which means there’s a huge opportunity for the current players.
Interestingly, CMR’s data showed that Foxconn owned Rising Star India beat Samsung as the number ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) for smartphones made in India, though Samsung remains the overall ODM leader in the mobile category as a whole.
In the smartphone market, Android remains the dominant OS, with 95 per cent of shipments running on this, which is not surprising. Also 73 per cent of 4G smartphones were running Android 6 or later version. The research firm predicts the market will flat for 2017.
