Reliance Jio, the latest entrant in the Indian telecom sector has already captured a 27 percent market share in the budget smartphone segment. According to a report by Counterpoint Research, Reliance Jio has topped the Indian feature phone market, all thanks to the large JioPhone shipments in the quarter end of December.
According to the report Counterpoint Research provided, Reliance Jio is now the new leader in feature phone segment in India. With 27 percent market share, Reliance Jio dethrones Samsung with 17 percent of feature phone market share. Micromax, Itel, and HMD Global are still at the third, fourth and fifth position respectively.
Mr. Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Counterpoint Research, said about the report, “JioPhone brought in huge volumes in the quarter, due to which it was able to surpass Samsung, which typically leads this segment. The device saw traction as feature phone users moved to the JioPhone and could use the similar form factor device to consume data as against the voice only earlier.”
Reliance is able to top the feature phone market all because of the 4G data services bundled with the Jio Phone. The Rs. 1,500 Jio Phone is almost cost-free (full price refund after three years), and it comes bundled with the Rs. 153 plan which includes 1GB Data per day, access to all Jio apps and unlimited voice calls.
Reliance Jio is facing supply constraints, and Strategy Head, Anshuman Thakur stated in the report, “There were certain supply constraints that we faced, which have been overcome. Now, you will see more of such phones.”
To stay in the market, the competitors are partnering some phone makers to counter Reliance Jio’s upcoming phones. The feature phone market is going to be more competitive from here and it is a win-win situation for the customers.
