Micromax gains in India, Samsung loses grip

NEW DELHI, INDIA:Samsung emerged as the overall leader in the India mobile phones market during CY (January-December) 2014, with a 16.5% share of shipments, followed by Micromax and Microsoft (Nokia) at 13.3%, says the CMR’s India Monthly Mobile Handsets Market Review for the CY 2014.

Of the ’Top 3’ leadership positions in the India smartphone market, the 1^st and 2^nd slots are held by Samsung and Micromax, respectively.  The 3^rd spot, however, was not held firmly by any single brand, with Lava, Karbonn, and Intex vying for this position through the year.

Samsung was seen to be losing its earlier firm grip on the market, as its share of the market showed a downward trend during the year. This was primarily at the hands of Apple gaining in the premium segment and a plethora of Chinese brands/OEMs hitting the mid-range Smartphones segment.

Micromax is the only player among the ‘Top 3’ slots to improve market share, despite stiff competition at the hands of Chinese brands/OEMs and a few Indian brands. It gained primarily in 2Q (April-June) 2014, but then continued to remain flat during the rest of the year.

“A lot of consumer enthusiasm was seen in terms of launch of new phone models and brands, unique features and a significant change in sales strategies of vendors. This resulted not only in making available a wider set of options for buyers, but also challenged industry players to remain competitive as well as creative in their offerings,” said Faisal Kawoosa, Lead Analyst, Telecoms Research at CMR.

2014 proved to be a path-breaking year for the India mobile phones market, essentially in terms of the high proportion of Smartphones shipped, said he. The India mobile handsets market grew at 4% in terms of shipments over CY 2013, to touch 257 million units during the period. Of this 77 million were Smartphones accounting for nearly 30% of all shipments, a first for India.  The Smartphones segment grew at 46% vis-à-vis CY 2013.