According to latest numbers from IDC, one of the trusted data analytics firms, the smartphone market jumped 21.4 percent in Q3 2015 with a major push towards availability of 4G smartphones and services. Shipments of 4G LTE-enabled smartphones have jumped three times in the third quarter of the year.
In India, around 28.3 million units of smartphones were shipped in Q3 2015 when compared to 26.5 percent in Q2 2015 and 23.3 million units in Q3 2014. Almost 33 percent of smartphones sold in India during the last quarter were 4G LTE enabled. Samsung is still an indisputable king of the 4G smartphone market in India, thanks to devices like the Galaxy J2 and the Galaxy Grand Prime 4G.
Samsung captured 24 percent share of the smartphone market in India, while Micromax, Intex, Lenovo Group (Lenovo and Motorola combined), and Lava had a market share of 16,7 percent, 10.8 percent, 9.5 percent, and 4.7 percent respectively. The overall mobile phone (feature phone and smartphone combined) market grew 2 percent from 72.4 percent to 73.8 percent. The market of feature phones declined from 49.1 million units in Q3 2014 to 45.6 million units in Q3 2015.
Almost one out of every two smartphones sold, had 5-inch plus displays. Most of the popular models in the market today support 4G, have a large screen, and are attractively priced at less than $200.
- Jaipal Singh, IDC Market Analyst – Client Devices.
According to IDC, Samsung stood at the number one position in the Indian mobile phone market with a share of 21.6 percent. Intex with its 11.8 percent market share managed to topple Micromax, which has a market share of 11.6 percent. However, Micromax rubbished IDC's numbers claiming that they are indeed the second largest mobile phone brand in India. IDC expects that smartphones will outstrip feature phones in India in 2016.
