Smartphone Sales in India Fell 3 Percent in Q4 2017, Says GfK

Smartphone sales in India fell by 3 percent as low-priced 4G feature phones may have cannibalised smartphone sales, as per research firm GfK.

This also pulled down the overall sales for Emerging Asia region that witnessed a slip of one percent to 58.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017, GfK said in a report.

The report, however, did not give sales numbers for individual countries.

Emerging Asia region includes India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand.

"Emerging Asia saw smartphone sales of 58.6 million units in 4Q17, down one percent year-on-year. This was dragged by a three percent decline in India, where a proliferation of low-priced 4G feature phones likely cannibalised smartphone sales," it said.

The report also said the average sales price (ASP) of smartphones globally increased by 10 percent year-on-year to $363 (roughly Rs. 23,000), the fastest quarterly growth rate so far.

GfK said 397 million units of smartphones were sold in the fourth quarter of 2017, up 1 percent y-o-y. Revenue generated was to the tune of $144 billion (roughly Rs. 9.16 lakh crores), the data showed.

Demand in the fourth quarter was primarily driven by Middle East and Africa, which experienced 8 percent growth, and Central and Eastern Europe, where demand grew 7 percent.

For the entire 2017, smartphone sales totalled 1.46 billion units and generated revenue of $479 billion (roughly Rs. 30 lakh crores).

"Smartphone y-o-y demand growth moderated for the fourth consecutive quarter, rising only 1 percent to 397 million units in Q4'17. However, sales value increased by 11 percent y-o-y in the quarter, which is exceptional growth for such a mature technology category," Arndt Polifke, Global Director of PoS telecom research at GfK, said.

This came as the proliferation of smartphones with larger and bezel-less (edge-to-edge) displays incentivised consumers to purchase more expensive devices, he added.

Yotaro Noguchi, product lead in GfK's trends and forecasting division, said the outlook for 2018 is positive.

"...GfK forecasts global smartphone demand to rise by 3 percent compared to 2017, driven by Emerging Asia and Central and Eastern Europe," Noguchi added.