Samsung has lost the number one spot in Indian Smartphone Market, to Domestic behemoth Micromax, reports Canalys. The Korean Smartphone giant has been slipping from the dice since last few quarters, and hasn’t transitioned to the era of low cost- high performance devices very well.
According to these latest reports from Canalys, Micromax now owns 22 percent of the smartphone Pie, which is slightly more than Samsung’s share of 20 percent. Other domestic manufacturers like Karbonn and Lava have increased market share too and lie at a distant 3rd and 4th spot.
Interestingly, 64 percent of the devices shipped in this quarter were priced under $200 (Approx 12000 INR) and 23 percent of the total were under $100 or 6,000 INR. India continues to be the fastest growing smartphone market with a growth of over 90 percent Year-on-year. This quarter, 21.6 million smartphones were shipped in India.
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Micromax did sell more number of devices, but Samsung might still be leading in terms of total revenue and profits. Samsung isn’t active under $200 price range, which accounts for whopping 64 percent of the action. This is also price range Where Micromax operates.
The latest E series and A series handsets too lie beyond this limit. Still, the difference is just 2 percent. Samsung can very well be back in the lead if it introduces a couple of budget handsets with reasonable hardware.
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“Micromax has been quicker than its competitors to improve the appeal of devices, for example, by including a wide variety of local languages on its Unite phones. Lava, another domestic vendor, has launched devices that cater to the preference for greater battery life – in this case a couple of days. But vital to success is selling these handsets at low price points to appeal to the bulging mid-level income market in India.” said Canalys Analyst Rushabh Doshi.
