Indian Smartphone Industry

India is by far the fastest growing smartphone market in the world with smartphone shipments surging by 167% to almost 9.5 million units during Q113. However, Tier 1 makers such as Nokia (NOK), Blackberry (BBRY) are not managing to capitalize on the shipment growth, While Samsung has managed to remain the numero uno player with 40% marketshare, the biggest gainers have been the local players who import smartphones from China. Micromax and Karbonn have been the biggest gainers, displacing other smartphone companies such as Nokia from the top 3 smartphone spots. These companies have been launching a huge variety of low end smartphones with good features. These devices are comparable to smartphones being sold by Tier 1 companies at twice the prices. These have made them popular in a price conscious Indian market.

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With growth in distribution and size, the quality and after sales service have also improved and they are giving Sony and Nokia a run for their money. Their brand names have also become more recognizable. These companies are showing the same trend as Coolpad and Xiamo in China, which have managed to capture larger amounts of market share through low price innovative smartphones. They are meeting the aspirational needs of a huge under-served lower income segments of the population. It remains to be seen how these companies perform in the future as they come under stress from a new low cost iPhone to be launched by Apple (AAPL) and increasing patent pressures being put by western companies such as Nortel and Microsoft (MSFT).

Also Read about Mobile Phone Companies in India.