Jio Phone Tops Global Feature Phone Market in Q1: Counterpoint

With a share of 15 percent, Reliance Jio Phone grabbed the top spot in the global feature phone market in the first quarter of 2018 followed by Nokia HMD, Itel, Samsung and Tecno, a new report said on Thursday.

Driven by strong shipments of Reliance Jio Phone in India and the return of Nokia HMD, the global feature phone market grew 38 percent annually in the first quarter of 2018, Counterpoint's latest report said.

Nokia HMD had 14 percent market share while Itel got 13 percent, Samsung grabbed six percent and Tecno also had six percent market share in the global feature phone market.

"There are still around half-a-billion feature phones sold every year and these continue to serve the needs of the roughly two billion feature phones users globally. This is still a huge market catering to a diverse user base, many of whom still prefer feature phones over smartphones," the market research firm said in a statement.

India alone contributed to almost 43 percent of the total feature phone shipments in the first quarter of 2018.

"Some feature phone users also suffer from digital, economic or literacy divides and face barriers to adopt relatively expensive smartphones and data plans," the research firm added.

Feature phone segment still has huge opportunity that remains to be exploited by the mobile industry.