This rapid pace of growth in smartphones is expected to continue in India: key actors, global trend and figures.

Galaxy Star Pro Dual SIM

 Henceforth low-cost devices (sub-200 USD) using the Android operating system, is the worldwide trend, when it comes smartphones. Blackberry with it Z3 device and Windows are struggling to gain traction in this market dominated by Samsung.

Asia Pacific is the most dynamic market and according to IDC, India was the highest growing market with a year-on-year smartphone shipment growth of over 186% in 1Q 2014.

According to IDC, the dip in the overall mobile phone market shipments can be attributed to the 18% decline in the feature phone shipments from 4Q 2013 to 1Q 2014. This was offset by the smartphone market, where units shipped grew by close to 17% in 1Q 2014 compared to 4Q 2013. The consistent growth in the smartphone market is driven by enhanced consumer preference for smart devices and narrowing

price differences.

The India smartphone market grew by a whopping 186% year-on-year in 1Q 2014. According to IDC Asia Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker (excluding Japan), vendors shipped a total of 17.59 million smartphones in 1Q 2014 compared to 6.14 million units in the same period of 2013. The shipment contribution of “phablets” (5.5 inch-6.99 inch screen size smartphones) in 1Q 2014 was noted to be around 5% of the overall market. The category grew by 125% in 1Q 2014 in terms of sheer volume over 4Q 2013. The primary reason behind this trend is the launch of low-end phablets by international and local vendors alike.

The sub-200 USD category in smartphones contributed to about 78% hinting at the fact that the growth in the India Smartphone market still remains constrained towards the low-end of the spectrum.

Samsung maintained its leadership in the smartphone market with 35% market share in 1Q 2014. High volumes came in from the low-end devices like S7262 Galaxy Star Pro Dual SIM and Galaxy S Duos 2 S7582.

Micromax held onto its 2nd position with approximately 15% market share. The top selling models for Micromax came in from the low-end Bolt Series.

Karbonn was 3rd position with approximately 10% market share. Its low-end range of 2G smartphones were the key in 1Q 2014.

LAVA climbed up to the 4th position with close to 6% market share. New XOLO launches like A500S and A500 have fared well.

Nokia made its way back to the top 5 list with about 4% market share. The Nokia X launch coupled with other low-end Lumia phones helped in improving the overall performance of the brand.