Samsung, the multinational corporate from Korea, which has become a leader in the smartphone segment in the recent years, has continued its lead in the third quarter of 2015. As per a report from the research firm Counterpoint, Samsung has market shares of 19% and 23.2% in the mobile phone market and the smartphone segment, respectively.
However, in the sub-$100 smartphone segment, it has consecutively lost share. This segment is growing faster as compared to every other section in the mobile phone market and is currently being dominated by local and Chinese brands.
In the research, the second spot has been maintained by the Indian handset company
Micromax, in both overall mobile phone market and the smartphone segment. As per the report, Micromax has a
market share of 13.7% and 17.7%, respectively. Online sales constitute a major part in the sales of this company, known to sell smertphones exclusively via online flash sales. However, as compared to the second quarter, Micromax has lost 0.6% points in the mobile phone segment.
Other Indian brands, like
Intex and
Lava are giving tough fight to Micromax in the $50-$100 price segment. Intex has even grabbed the third spot in the report, for sequentially holding its momentum from the second quarter of 2015 in both the said segments.
Yu, the popular brand from the house of Micromax, has registered more online sales than all brands from
Xiaomi, thereby pressurizing the Chinese brand for pulling up its socks to maintain its presence in the Indian markets.
In the report, Counterpoint has pointed out that one in every four mobile phones sold during the third quarter of the year was made in India and one in every three smartphones shipped were 4G LTE smartphone.
Tina Lu, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research, stated that, "Most of the growth during the quarter was driven by OEMs stocking the channels ahead of the growing demand and upcoming festive season. Towards the end of the quarter, we saw most of the brands actively announcing and rolling out their flagship products coupled with aggressive marketing and promotional campaigns both online and offline."
"We are seeing significant proliferation of LTE and a larger display form-factor in sub $100 price band as these features reach mass market level for the "mobile first" market such as India," said Tarun Pathak, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research.
Pathak also added that the “Make In India” initiative, launched by the Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, is seeing immense growth. It has been derived from the fact that in the third quarter, five major handset brands have started assembling their handsets in India.
