India Becomes Fastest-Growing Smartphone Market in Q2 2019 With Double Digit Growth

India saw double-digit growth in the smartphone market in Q2 of 2019, making it the fastest-growing smartphone market of its size globally. The growth is expected to increase in the festive season, which lasts from Onam to January 2020, as smartphone sales —  both online and offline — increase exponentially. 

Incidentally, according to data released by TRAI, the growth rate for new mobile phone subscribers has slowed down. 

According to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, the Indian smartphone market saw the highest-ever second-quarter shipment of 36.9 Mn in 2019. 

The Indian market witnessed a 9.9 % year-on-year (YoY) and 14.8% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth. In 2019, the import of smartphones took a jump of 7.6% with around 69.3 Mn mobile phones being shipped to India.

Offline channels registered a growth of 8.8% driven by the launch of Samsung A Series, Vivo’s marketing campaigns during IPL and Xiaomi’s growing multichannel distribution. The market’s average selling price (ASP) was $159 in 2019 with 78% of the consumer opting for phones below $200 price range. The fastest-growing mobile phone segment was priced between the range of $200-300 with 105.2% YoY growth.

In terms of growth, the $400-600 segment had the second-highest rate with 16.3% YoY growth in Q2 2019 — OnePlus led this segment with a 63.6% share opting for the newly launched OnePlus 7 series. 

“In the premium (US$500+) segment, Apple bettered Samsung for the leadership position with an overall share of 41.2% in 2Q19 as the iPhone XR demand saw an uplift after the price drop and aided by heavy promotional activities,” says Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager of Client Devices at IDC, in a press release.

While smartphone shipments increased, feature phones continued to decline with 32.4 Mn units shipped registering a drop of 26.3% YoY in 2019. The push of 4G services has given a push to the smartphones, pulling the feature phones segment back. 

As reported by Inc42, Chinese brand Xiaomi maintained its lead in the race for gaining control over the smartphone market, pushing Samsung and Vivo to second and third place, respectively. 

Xiaomi’s shipment volume grew by 4.8% YoY in Q2 with the launch of new phones such as Redmi 6A and Redmi Note 7 Pro. The brand did well in both the online and offline market, with 46.5% and 39.5% shipments, respectively. 

Even though Samsung bucked up with the launch of its low-end and mid-tier phones, registering a 16.6% YoY growth in 2019, it was not enough to dethrone Xiaomi. Vivo posted strong growth with 31.6% in Q2 2019, and was followed by sister companies Oppo and Realme in terms of shipments and market share. 

Navkendar Singh, Research Director of Client Devices & IPDS at IDC, said, “India smartphone market will continue its growth trajectory in the second half 2019, but the consolidation of top few brands will continue. This will make it much more challenging for smaller players to find niches of growth.”