India the Fastest Growing Asia Pacific Smartphone Market in Q3: IDC

The International Data Corporation (IDC) on Wednesday announced that India was the fastest growing smartphone market in Asia Pacific with a market share growth of 27 percent in Q3 (July to September). The top five smartphone vendors that contributed to these results are Samsung, Micromax, Lava, Karbonn, and Motorola.

According to the report, Samsung dominated the Indian smartphone market in Q3 with a market share of 24 percent, dropping 5 percent from Q2, while Micromax stood second with 20 percent, which is a 2 percent increase from Q2 this year.

The Indian smartphone vendor Lava with its subsidiary Xolo collectively managed 8 percent market share in Q3, rising 2 percent from Q2, while Karbonn Mobiles too managed 8 percent alone - staying the same as Q2. Lenovo's latest purchase Motorola saw a market share of 5 percent (the same as Q2) largely due to its second generation smartphones in India, Moto X (Gen 2) and Moto G (Gen 2).

IDC said that shipment growth in Q3 was largely a result of festive demand, and out-of-which Indian smartphone market outshined other emerging markets in the Asia Pacific region in terms of quarter-over-quarter growth.

Overall, the mobile phone market stood at 72.5 million units shipped (23.3 million smartphones and 49.2 million feature phones) in Q3 2014, which according to IDC data is a 15 percent growth as quarter-on-quarter growth and 9 percent as year-on-year. IDC noted that in Q3, smartphones had a 32 percent market share versus 68 percent, compared to Q2's 29 percent and 71 percent respectively.

Not just the smartphone, but feature phone shipments recorded double digit quarter-on-quarter growth of 10 percent as per IDC, which 9 percent less growth as the Q3 2013, considering consumers are migrating to smartphones.

"With positive consumer sentiments and low levels of inflation, consumers will have more money to spend. Majority of the smartphone users change their phones within 12 to 24 months. With 44 million units shipped in CY 2013 and the current market scenario hinting at 80 million plus shipment in CY 2014, we have a big chunk of end-user market which is awaiting refresh. To add to this, new initiatives on the 4G front are expected to be rolled out by the vendors which would spark up demand in the smartphone market in CY 2015" said Karan Thakkar, Senior Market Analyst at IDC India.

"With 6 percent contribution in the overall smartphone market, 'phablets' (which IDC defines as 5.5 inches to 6.99 inches screen size smartphones) are observed to be hitting a plateau. On the other hand smartphone with screen size between 4.5 inches and 5.5 inches are seen as the sweet spot for consumer preference. Consumer need higher screen size phone to enjoy media content and with the 4G rollout expected in CY2015, we expect the 'phablets' segment to pick up again" said Kiran Kumar, Research Manager, Client Devices IDC India.