The latest data from Counterpoint Research shows that shipments in the Indian smartphone market for the first quarter of 2015 rose 21% year-over-year. On a sequential basis however, shipments declined 8% from the fourth quarter of 2014. Among smartphone manufacturers, Samsung remained on top with a 27.8% share of Indian smartphone shipments in Q1. That was down 17% from the 33.3% slice of the Indian smartphone market that Sammy owned in the first quarter of 2014. However, the latest data shows a 1.5% increase on a sequential basis from the fourth quarter of 2014.
Despite shipments that are trending lower, Micromax finished behind Samsung with 15.3% of the Indian smartphone market after the first quarter. That is a decline from the 16.7% slice of the Indian smartphone pie that it owned after last year's first quarter, and the 19.5% Micromax owned after Q4 2014.
"There has been significant push by Indian government for “Make in India”, and it seems like almost every of the top 10 mobile phone player has expressed their intentions toward setting up a manufacturing plant in India. However, we believe the real “Make in India” developments are still a good 12-18 months away due to the lack of component suppliers’ ecosystem. Players like Samsung & Micromax which are already assembling phones in India are well positioned to take advantage of early moves to local manufacturing as compared to other players."-Counterpoint Research
Intex, Lava and Lenovo finished third, fourth and fifth respectively. All three brands finished the first quarter with a larger share of the Indian smartphone market than the amount they held during last year's first and fourth quarters.
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Counterpoint also notes that strong marketing and buyback deals helped Apple iPhone shipments in the quarter. Last year it took Apple 12 months to sell one million iPhone units in the country. This year, it is close to reaching that number of sales in half of the time. Lumia shipments were also strong in India, growing 20% year-over-year for the first quarter. The Microsoft Lumia 535 was a standout performer. While Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi reported lower shipments for the first quarter of this year, Counterpoint says that it was among the top shippers of 4G LTE flavored smartphones into the country. Top Xiaomi models included the Xiaomi Mi Note 4G and the Xiaomi Redmi 2 4G.
Overall, India is now the third largest smartphone market in the world, shipping twice as many smartphones in the first quarter of this year as Japan did.
Samsung continues to top India's smartphone market
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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