This might come as a surprise to many but the Indian mobile manufacturer Micromax has toppled the Korean smartphone maker Samsung. Some facts to ponder upon:
- Indian mobile phone market grew a modest 2% annually but the smartphone segment grew a handsome 68% annually as demand for feature phones fell 16% annually in Q2 2014
- Majority of growth in smartphone segment during the quarter was driven by long tail of local and other Asian brands operating in this huge market
- Indian brands together captured more than two-thirds of the total mobile phone shipments and more than half of the smartphone shipments
- Micromax became the leading mobile phone supplier brand in India in Q2 2014 for the first time ever surpassing Samsung capturing 17% market share up from 13% in Q1 2014
- Micromax was also the second largest smartphone vendor closing in on Samsung, capturing 19% share in this fast growing segment
- Micromax has widened the gap with the third largest smartphone player as the race for the third place is up for grabs with fierce competition between Karbonn, Motorola, Celkon, Nokia, Apple and Sony
- Micromax also became the leading feature phone supplier overtaking Nokia for the first time
- Globally, Micromax also jumped up the rankings becoming the tenth largest handset brand in terms of mobile phone shipment volumes
- This is the vendor which mobile industry will have to keep an eye on as it expands beyond domestic markets
- The surprise performance was from Motorola thanks to its attractive but leaner portfolio of Moto X/G/E and go-to-market strategy. The brand which could soon be part of Lenovo has built a strong base in the high volume India smartphone market, entering the top five rankings surpassing Nokia, Apple, Sony and others
- We will see intensified competition in the Indian smartphone space as Asian OEMs such as Xiaomi, Gionee, Huawei and Asus enter with premium-like hardware at an aggressive price-point attracting young tech-savvy but price-conscious urban buyers
- However, these brands will have to work hard on their brand awareness, distribution and service networkto continue the growth beyond the early spike in demand in this very important mobile phone market
