Samsung leads Indian smartphone market with 4 mln units shipped in Q1 2013
Indian smartphone market sees a 167 percent growth in January-April 2013, with Samsung remaining the market leader claiming 40 percent of the market share.
According to a recent study by CyberMedia Research, nearly 10 million smartphones were shipped in India in the first quarter of 2013, which is a significant increase (167%) from last year. The raise in smartphone sales has been due to better distribution networks of brands like Samsung as well as domestic brands like Micromax and Karbonn.
The report states that Samsung remains the market leader with over 4 million smartphones sales and retains 40% of the market share. Samsung has seen an increase in sales due to launch of a wide range of new products. Domestic players like Micromax and Karbonn have also seen a growth of 19% and 8% respectively from last year.
Tarun Pathak, a CyberMedia analyst stated, “A significant proportion of these (users) were already using the devices of local vendors and preferred to continue with a smartphone of the same brand. Thus, local vendors have been able to introduce their new smartphone offerings to this ‘captive’ customer base.”
He added, “It is expected to sustain, till such time as one of the Tier I international players like Nokia, BlackBerry, HTC or Sony Mobiles launches a sustained marketing and promotion drive to regain share or introduce a new, potentially disruptive mobile device technology.”
India recently surged ahead of Japan in smartphone sales to become the third largest smartphone market globally. According to the report, overall the Indian mobile phone market saw a growth of 11% compared to last year. More than 74 million mobile handsets were sold in India during Jan- April 2013.
Source: ET