According to a report from market research firm Cyber Exim, Lava has become the second largest local smartphone brand in India. As per the sales figures from Q3 2014, Micromax was the largest local smartphone brand in India by selling around 3,723,445 smartphone units, while Lava stands at the second place with sales of around 1,968,575 smartphone units. Karbonn, Intex, and Spice were also able to land into the list of top five local smartphone brands in India.
| Volume data of Top 5 Indian players (in Mn) July – September’14 – Cybex Exim Solutions Pvt Ltd | ||||
| Company | Feature Phones | Smart Phones | Total Volume | % Volume Share |
| MICROMAX | 5,058,002 | 3,723,445 | 8,781,447 | 31.2% |
| LAVA | 5,307,184 | 1,968,575 | 7,275,759 | 25.8% |
| KARBONN | 4,591,947 | 1,803,583 | 6,395,530 | 22.7% |
| INTEX | 2,542,483 | 965,627 | 3,508,110 | 12.5% |
| SPICE | 1,764,181 | 426,992 | 2,191,173 | 7.8% |
Last month, Lava had announced that they would be investing about 500 crores to shift the manufacturing of smartphones and tablets in India under the 'Make in India' initiative. When it comes to the overall smartphone market share in India, Samsung is still at the top with around 35 percent market share, while Micromax and Microsoft are second and third largest smartphone vendors in India as per a report from GFK. Samsung, Apple, and Lenovo are the top three smartphone brands worldwide.
“To understand the market dynamics, we track the import shipments of various players on a daily basis. Domestic players have shown remarkable growth over the last two quarters; majorly credited to the success of Indian brands like Micromax, Lava and Karbonn. With local vendors reducing the price gap between the entry level smartphones and feature phones, usage for mid-price phones is expected to increase at a high rate. At the same time, the recent launch of Android One devices is expected to drive more volumes in the price sensitive market with many other local players geared up to introduce their devices in the coming quarter.”
- Mr. Amit Gupta, Cybex Exim
The Indian smartphone brands are facing huge competition from the Chinese brands. Brands like Xiaomi are selling smartphones, tablets, and other accessories like power banks and headphones at cut-throat prices, something which Indian brands aren't able to provide as of now. That doesn't mean that all Chinese brands are doing good. Oppo, Obi, and Oplus have failed to take off in the Indian smartphone market.
Some international smartphone vendors like Motorola and Asus are offering devices at a decent price but with much better design and software quality, something which Indian smartphones brands are not too good at. But, Micromax is said to be partnering with CyanogenMod to offer a modern, cleaner, and feature filled software along with a guarantee of faster software updates.
Update [09 Nov 2014 6:30 PM]: According to this report, Lava surely looks promising but we will wait for numbers from more recognised and reliable research firms like IDC and CounterPoint Technology, who are expected to release their reports soon.
