Smartphone market grows 20% in Apr-June

New Delhi, August 13

Smartphone shipments grew 20% to 33.5 million units in the June quarter 2018 compared to the year-ago period, boosted by launch of online exclusive devices as well as strong shipments by offline retail-heavy players, research firm IDC said on Monday.

Chinese major Xiaomi retained the top spot by shipping 10 million units and capturing 29.7% share, followed by Samsung 23.9% share (8 million units) and Vivo with 12.6% share (4.2 million units), the data showed.

Oppo and Transsion followed in the tally with 7.6% and 5% share in June quarter.

IDC believes that this growth is the result of a slew of online exclusive launches and strong shipments by offline heavy vendors on the back of high decibel promotional activities and channel schemes, it said.

“India will be the fastest growing, large smartphone market for the next few years, making it a must for any smartphone player to be here. However, with increasing consolidation, it will be difficult for any new brand to carve a space here,” IDC India Associate Research Director (Client Devices) Navkendar Singh said. He added the Indian smartphone market is expected to continue growing in low double-digits for the next couple of years.

“Second half of 2018, with multiple sale events in the run-up to the Diwali festival, will be even bigger with growing aggression by online players, the sustained relevance of offline channel and several new launches planned by key vendors across price segments,” Singh said.

Also, the market is seeing rapid consolidation at the top end as the top 5 vendors made up 79% of the smartphone market in the second quarter of 2018, marginalising smaller brands, IDC India Associate Research Manager Upasana Joshi said. — PTI