Xiaomi growing at 250 pc but Samsung clings to the top spot

MUMBAI, INDIA: According to a latest Market Monitor program for Q4 2014 (Oct-Dec) by Counterpoint research, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh total mobile phone shipments stood at 89 million as smartphone demand skyrocketed and the total smartphone shipments contributed to more than a third of all mobile phones shipped during the quarter.

These three markets combined offers an opportunity for mobile phone industry players looking to grow beyond the saturating China mobile phone market.

“Smartphone growth in these regions touches almost all the price segments with regional brands being prominent in the entry level smartphone segment. Apart from this we have seen Chinese vendors entering these geographies for the first time in CY 2014 and enjoyed a significant success rate. However it will be important to keep an eye on online only players on how they capture the smartphone growth in rural areas in these regions” says Tina Lu, Sr. Consultant at Counterpoint research

“While the vendors looking to expand their smartphone strategy beyond China, it is interesting to note that domestic brands occupy strong position in these three markets by capturing a share of 62 per cent, 52 per cent and 50 per cent in Bangladesh, India and Indonesia respectively. In such a scenario a new vendor entering these geographies must play on the strength of regional brands which primarily is their distribution reach and price competitiveness” says Tarun Pathak Sr. Analyst at Counterpoint research

As per some key findings of the competitive environment in these markets on India Handset Market 4Q 2014, India mobile phone market grew by six per cent YoY but declined sequentially on account of a mixed seasonality during the quarter. Smartphone shipments stood close to 22 Million during Q4 2014 reaching to a record level crossing 80 Million units for the first time and contributing close to 32 per cent of the overall shipments in CY 2014.

India is the third largest smartphone market in the world and shipping almost twice as many smartphones shipped in Japan in 2014. Samsung led the overall mobile phone and smartphone market during the quarter with a market share of 16.1 per cent and 27.4 per cent respectively. Micromax maintained the second position in both overall and smartphone market closely following Samsung. Micromax smartphone shipments grew 75 per cent YoY but declined sequentially. Intex entered the top 5 smartphone vendor rankings for the first time in a quarter capturing slightly under seven per cent of the market share during the quarter. Intex smartphones enjoyed a strong demand in sub-$100 smartphone segment especially for its Aqua 3G and Y Pro models.

The research shows that Lenovo raced to number fifth position primarily due to acquisition of Motorola capturing almost five per cent of the Indian smartphone market during the quarter. Xiaomi smartphone shipments grew almost 250 per cent QoQ but the vendor failed to make it to the Top five smartphone vendors during the quarter. For the full year, the online only brands, Xiaomi and Motorola crossed 1Mn and 3Mn mark (cumulative shipments) respectively since launch signifying growing trend of consumers purchasing phones online.

Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone shipment touched half a million units for the first time in a quarter with strong demand for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.The competition for the third - fifth spots in India smartphone market will be a close race between the fast growing smartphone brands such as Intex, Lava, Lenovo (Including Motorola), Karbonn, Xiaomi, Sony and others.