According to the latest report from International Data Corp. (IDC), India was the highest growing market in Asia Pacific with a YoY smartphone shipment growth of over 186 per cent in 1Q14. The vast majority of the country's user base migrated to smartphones from feature phones and as a result Indian smartphone market surpasses other emerging markets such as China, which logged a YoY growth of 31 per cent in 1Q14.

The smartphone penetration in India still hovers at 10 per cent and it is expected to grow due to a variety of factors including greater availability of low-cost devices and additional sales emphasis by top-flight vendors on less populous parts of the country.

IDC revealed that the overall India mobile phone market stood at close to 61.07 million units in 1Q14 which is a 10 per cent QoQ dip and a mere one per cent YoY growth. The dip in the overall mobile phone market shipments can be attributed to the 18 per cent decline in the feature phone shipments from 4Q13 to 1Q14. This was offset by the smartphone market, where units shipped grew by close to 17 per cent in 1Q14 compared to 4Q13. The consistent growth in the smartphone market is driven by enhanced consumer preference for smart devices and narrowing price differences.

The share of feature phones in the overall market further slipped further to 71 per cent in 1Q14 which is a considerable decrease from 90 per cent share in 1Q13.

The India smartphone market grew by a whopping 186 per cent YoY in 1Q14. According to IDC Asia Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker (excluding Japan), vendors shipped a total of 17.59 million smartphones in 1Q14 compared to 6.14 million units in the same period of 2013. The shipment contribution of phablets (which IDC defines as 5.5-6.99in screen size smartphones) in 1Q14 was noted to be around five per cent of the overall market. The category grew by 125 per cent in 1Q14 in terms of sheer volume over 4Q13. The primary reason behind this trend is the launch of low-end phablets by international and local vendors alike.

By: DocMemory
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