Smart Phone Market in India

A quick note on how Smart phone market dynamics in India.  I have referred IDC report for the stats.

Total number of mobile phones shipped in India during 2012 is 21,80,00,000 , roughly  around 22 Crore.

The market in India grew around 16 % in 2012 . World  wide Mobile phone market grew around 2-3 %  and the growth in India is at least 5 times faster, so India is and will be one of the prime markets for mobile vendors.


Total number of smartphones shipped in India in 2012 was  1,63,00,000 , around 1.5 core.
Growth in India  was 48% and smart phone market around the world grew around 36% .

Expected growth of smart phone market in India for 2013 is around 70% , this is twice as faster as compared to rest of the world, so  smart phone makers need to be in India and sell well in India, else they will loose one of the fastest emerging markets.

Interesting point to be noted is smart phones contribute to around 45% of total number mobile phones shipped in USA where as the smart phones contribute just to 9% of total number mobile phones shipped in India. There are two important things here

• Company such as Nokia which is too big in feature phones , needs to stick to India for survival.
• The growth potential for smart phones in India too huge, so its high time Apple starts considering Indian Smart phone market  seriously.

Most popular smart phones in India are in the ranges of 100 - 300$ , so to be success full in India the vendor needs to be price conscious and provide value for money. People are buying high end Galaxy and i Phones but 100 - 300 $ smart phone market seems to be  very strong .

Top five smart phone vendors in India , by the number of units shipped is as below

1. Samsung
2. Micromax
3. Sony
4. Nokia
5. Karbonn

Its a pleasant to see Indian makers Micromax and Karbon being able to compete with Samsung, Sony , Nokia, LG, HTC ... 

My two cents:

• Smart phone market in India will grow very fast in 2013 , this year might be the best year for smart phone vendors in India. 
• 100-300 $ space  will grow fastest and mobile vendors need to cater to this space.