Chinese smartphone vendors capture 49% of Indian mobile handset market, post 180% growth in Q1: CMR

Chinese smartphone vendors, that have captured 49 per cent of the Indian mobile phone handset market in the first quarter of 2017, may soon wipe out Indian brands from the overall handset segment, a report has said. 

The Chinese vendors have registered a 180 per cent (year-on-year) revenue growth in the first quarter of 2017, research firm CyberMedia Research (CMR) said.

CMR’s "India Quarterly Mobile Handset Market Review" report suggests that revenues of Rs 346,295 million was recorded by mobile handsets market in India in the first quarter (January-March), down eight% sequentially quarter-on-quarter.

South Korea’s Samsung and China’s Itel and Xiaomi were the top market players. While the market share of Samsung stands at 27%, Itel has 9% and Xiaomi 6%.

Samsung of South Korea, and the Chinese Itel and Xiaomi were the top market players with 27 per cent, nine per cent and six per cent market share, respectively, in terms of volume.

"In the smartphone arena, the Chinese brands have already kicked out domestic players from the top five list and in the near future, we will see Chinese players wiping out the Indian brands from the top five chart of overall mobile handset segment too," said Krishna Mukherjee, Telecom Analyst with CMR, in a statement.

The Indian mobile handset market with leading brands Micromax, Intex and Lava is expected to be around 65 million units in the second quarter (April-June), and the growth will come from replacement/upgrade market that would continue to benefit the Chinese brands.

"As this would be the last quarter before GST is implemented (on July 1), a lot of push by way of schemes and offers from various handset makers is expected during the quarter," the report added.

Meanwhile, Apple’s ‘Make in India’ iPhoneSE will change the market dynamics. It will compete with Chinese players like Vivo and Oppo, which have been strong in the Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 price range.