Indian smartphone market declined in Q4, Samsung still leads: Report

IDC is out with its latest quarterly report that states the Indian smartphone market saw a sequential drop for the first time in Q4 of 2014 that ended December 31, 2014. “The fall was largely owing to a high channel inventory at the beginning of the quarter amongst general trade which in turn was caused by the surge witnessed in online sales during festive season,” IDC said in its report. In the fourth quarter, the overall mobile phone market stood at 64.3 million units. This means a sequential drop of 11 percent compared to third quarter. The smartphone market declined by 4 percent while the feature phone market plummeted by 14 percent compared to the previous quarter, adds the report. However, the smartphone market share is nearly three times with 35  percent market share, compared to the same quarter in 2013. IDC expect a slow first quarter of 2015 for the mobile segment. However, it says a ‘few global vendors’ were in the inventory correction phase and one can expect huge numbers from them in this quarter. The report also suggests that the demand for 4G-enabled smartphones will increase in 2015 as telcos are preparing to launch 4G services. “In percentage terms, 4G handsets are still in single digit. But vendors who are not yet ready with the 4G portfolio are likely to miss the next wave of smartphone growth story,” said Karan Thakkar, senior market analyst, IDC India. Lately, a Canalys report revealed that Micromax has dethroned Samsung in the Indian market. It was soon followed by other reports refuting the claim . Now, IDC report reveals that Samsung continues its lead in the smartphone market capturing a 22 percent market share, followed by Micromax with 18 percent market share. It is followed by Intex and Lava at 8 percent and 7 percent, respectively. However, the surprise element is Xiaomi. The Chinese phone maker who entered the Indian market last year has replaced Motorola to take the fifth spot.