Samsung Leads but 'Losing Grip' on Indian Smartphone Market: CyberMedia

Samsung may be the leader in the burgeoning Indian mobile market, but the Korean handset giant is losing ground in one of the world's largest markets as it faces stiff competition from rivals like Micromax, Karbonn, Lava and Microsoft (Nokia).

According to the latest data from CyberMedia Research (CMR), Samsung is "losing its earlier firm grip" with its share declining to 16.5 percent at the end of December 2014 from 20.3 percent at the beginning of the year.

According to the research firm's India Monthly Mobile Handsets Market Review - for calendar year (CY) 2014, India mobile handsets market grew by 4 percent to 257 million units in terms of shipments over 2013.

Of this, Samsung captured 16.5 percent of the shipments, followed by Micromax and Microsoft (Nokia) at 13.3 percent each, it added.

"However, Samsung was seen to be losing its earlier firm grip on market, as its share of the market showed a downward trend during the year, as compared to Micromax that gained primarily in April-June 2014, but then continued to remain flat during the rest of the year," CMR said in a statement.

Samsung's share of the overall market in January-March 2014 quarter stood at 20.3 percent, while that of Micromax was 11.2 percent and Microsoft (Nokia) was 17.6 percent.

About 77 million smartphones were shipped in 2014, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the total mobile phone market in the country. The smartphones segment grew at 46 percent as against the previous year.

Samsung lost ground in the smartphone segment too, with its market share falling from 43.2 percent at the beginning of the year to 29.3 percent at the end of December 2014.

Micromax, on the other hand, expanded its share marginally from 17.5 percent in January-March 2014 to 18.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014.

"2014 proved to be a path-breaking year for the India mobile phones market, essentially in terms of high proportion of smartphones shipped. A lot of consumer enthusiasm was seen in terms of launch of new phone models and brands, unique features and a significant change in sales strategies of vendors," CMR Lead Analyst Telecoms Research Faisal Kawoosa said.

"This resulted not only in making available a wider set of options for buyers, but also challenged industry players to remain competitive as well as creative in their offerings," he added.

Last week, multiple research reports showed contrasting data on market leader in the Indian smartphone market. While Canalys said Micromax had 22 percent share and had overtaken Samsung (20 percent) as number one, research firm Counterpoint stated that the Korean giant continued to be at the top with 27.4 percent smartphone market share in the October-December 2014 quarter.

Samsung led the overall mobile phone market too with 16.1 percent share, followed by Micromax (14.4 percent overall and 19.5 percent in smartphone market), according to Counterpoint.

Another report by GfK, which is based on sales numbers, put Samsung ahead of the domestic rival with 34.3 percent share of the Indian smartphone market at the end of December 2014.

CMR said the growth in smartphone shipment was propelled by a number of reasons, the main being availability of wide range of models and brands under Rs. 15,000, pickup in online sales, increasing mobile data consumption and decline in data tariffs and operators extending their data network footprints.

While many new brands emerged in the India market, the focus continued to be on offering the best experience at the right price-point, CMR said.

"Going forward, the challenge would to provide customers equally high levels of after-sales experience across the length and breadth of the country. This will call for a deep focus and investment on improving distribution and servicing networks," CMR Telecoms Analyst Karn Chauhan said.

Some of the new smartphone brands rely exclusively on online sales and it would be interesting to watch how they go about increasing their market footprint, to penetrate deeper into upcountry locations, he added.

"Such expansion would help them reach a large base of potential buyers without easy access to online platforms," he said.