Micromax Replaces Samsung as Largest Mobile Phone Vendor in India: Report

According to a recent report by a market research firm, Micromax has replaced Samsung to become the leading mobile phone vendor in the country in terms of market share. It has also become the second largest smartphone vendor in India behind Samsung.

Counterpoint, a technology market research firm, finds that Micromax with a 16.6 percent market share has overtaken Samsung (14.4 percent) as the largest mobile phone supplier in Q2 2014. Micromax and Samsung were closely followed by Nokia (10.9 percent), Karbonn (9.5 percent), and Lava (5.6 percent).

The research also revealed that Micromax replaced Nokia for the first time to become the leading feature phone supplier. According to the feature phone shipment data published, Micromax topped the charts with a 15.2 percent share followed by Nokia (now operated by Microsoft) with 14.7 percent. Other handset manufacturers following Micromax and Nokia in the feature phone segment were Karbonn (11.4 percent), Samsung (8.5 percent), and Lava (7.3 percent).

Counterpoint also reports that Micromax with a 19.1 percent share is now the second largest smartphone brand in terms of shipments, closely following Samsung (25.3 percent). Meanwhile, Lava (5.9 percent), Motorola (4.3 percent), and Nokia (4 percent) are other top smartphone brands of the country.

Neil Shah of Counterpoint notes, "Micromax has widened the gap with the third largest smartphone player as the race for the third place is up for grabs with fierce competition between Karbonn, Motorola, Celkon, Nokia, Apple and Sony."

"This is the vendor which mobile industry will have to keep an eye on as it expands beyond domestic markets. Globally, Micromax also jumped up the rankings becoming the tenth largest handset brand in terms of mobile phone shipment volumes," added Shah.

Some of the other findings of the market research revealed that Indian mobile phone market grew by 2 percent annually. The smartphone segment, on the other hand, grew an impressive 68 percent annually, while the demand for feature phones dropped to 16 percent annually in Q2, noted Counterpoint.

Shah also said, "The surprise performance was from Motorola thanks to its attractive but leaner portfolio of Moto X, Moto G, Moto E and go-to-market strategy. The brand which could soon be part of Lenovo has built a strong base in the high volume India smartphone market, entering the top five rankings surpassing Nokia, Apple, Sony and others."

Market research company Canalys last week reported that Motorola overtook Nokia to become the fourth-largest smartphone vendor in India in terms of units shipped in the quarter-ended June.

The market research firm also speculated that the Indian market will see intense competition thanks to the entry of some popular Asian smartphone brands in the country.

Xiaomi is already seeing an impressive response to launch of its first Mi 3 smartphone in the country. Asus, on the other hand, created a buzz in the market last month with its all new ZenFone smartphone series being launched in India at aggressive pricing.

"However, these brands will have to work hard on their brand awareness, distribution and service network to continue the growth beyond the early spike in demand in this very important mobile phone market," further Shah added.