India is poised to take over as the next high-growth smartphone market
The Indian smartphone market has reached the same point that the Chinese smartphone market was at by the end of 2013.
Growth is explosive, and competition among vendors is gaining steam as top global players lose out to a host of homegrown vendors.
In the fourth quarter of 2014, smartphone shipments in India reached roughly 23 million units, up more than fourfold compared to two years prior, according to data from IDC.
China remains dominant in terms of raw shipment numbers, but India is where growth is now concentrated and that trend is likely to continue for the next few years.
In a new report from BI Intelligence, we take a look at how the platform and vendor wars are shaking up in India, and discuss the opportunity for even more shake-ups and future growth based on current and future performance. We also break down India's place in the global smartphone market.
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Here are a few key points about how vendors and platforms are performing in India:
- Competition among vendors is heating up in this growing market. The top five vendors in terms of shipments market share in India over the course of 2014 shifted between eight different brands.
- Home-grown vendor Micromax has firmly held onto second place, and is close to overtaking Samsung. Micromax claimed 18% of the market in the fourth quarter.
- Other, smaller Indian vendors like Lava, Intex, and Karbonn have all made inroads to grab market share. They have pushed out old global smartphone industry stalwarts like Motorola and Nokia in the process.
- Chinese vendor Xiaomi's recent expansion into India is already paying off. It grabbed 4% of the market in the fourth quarter to step into the top five spot in the country.
- Like China, the presence of a mix of generic vendors is growing. In 2014, the Others category increased from 30% in the first quarter to 41% of the market in the fourth quarter.
The report is full of charts and data that can be downloaded and put to use.
In full, the report:
- Gives an updated look at smartphone penetration in 2014 and an estimate for 2015 across eight major mobile markets.
- Discusses the US and its fast-track to saturation and what it means for platforms and vendors.
- Surveys the smartphone landscape in Europe's five largest markets.
- Quantifies China's effect on the global smartphone market, breaks down its slowing momentum, and looks at the fragmented vendor landscape in the country.
- Examines India's growing role in the global smartphone market's future growth.
