The smartphone shipments in India exceeded 100 million for the first time in H2 2020 as brands launched impressive smartphones, backed by aggressive marketing and attractive offers or discounts during the festive season and beyond, a report said.
According to CyberMedia Research (CMR) Mobile Handset Market Review Report for Q4 2020, India’s smartphone market grew 20 percent on-year in Q4 2020, led by Xiaomi capturing 27 percent of the market share.
Samsung, which slipped to the second position in the smartphone market, held a share of 20 percent followed by Vivo at 14 percent, Realme at 11 percent, and Oppo at 10 percent.
Anand Priya Singh, Analyst-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, said: "As a consequence of the supply chain and geopolitical challenges, the year saw a gradual realignment of smartphone supply chains. Enterprises seeking to de-risk themselves from China looked at emerging alternatives, including India. As we move forward, we believe India’s smartphone manufacturing ecosystem will get a fillip, and gain strength in the post-pandemic future."
n 2020, 5G shipments continued to gain strength and we anticipate this momentum to continue in 2021. OnePlus was the highest contributor in the 5G smartphone segment capturing 58 percent market share followed by Apple at 20 percent, the report stated.
The research firm estimates that the smartphone market in 2021 will potentially grow more than 10 percent YoY. 5G shipments are expected to grow tenfold to more than 30 million, even though the 5G network will not be available until late 2022 or early 2023.
Says Amit Sharma, Analyst-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, "Amidst the pandemic, the smartphone industry growth was positively impacted by the pent-up consumer demand driven by the persistent work-from-home, learn-from-home, and unwind-at-home conditions. Smartphone brands were able to turn around the story in H2 2020. As a consequence, the smartphone market saw a mere 3 percent decline for the full year."
In 2021 and beyond, as India’s nascent digital economy takes off, the smartphone industry would gain strength, driven by feature phone users transiting to entry-level smartphones, and new, powerful offerings across price tiers, including 5G-capable smartphone offerings at mid to lower price tiers, including in the less than Rs 20,000 price band, Anand added.
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