Samsung topped the Indian smartphones market with 40.4 per cent share during the January-March quarter. Total smartphone sales touched 2.7 million units during the quarter.
Nokia with 25.5 per cent was ranked second, while BlackBerry maker Research in Motion was third with 12.3 per cent share, independent firm CyberMedia Research (CMR) said on Tuesday.
“Needs of users are clearly seen to be converging around two major form factors – high-power, high-speed smartphones against value-plus, content-enabled feature phones,” Mr Anirban Banerjee, Associate Vice-President, Research and Advisory Services, CMR, said. He said while most players are strong in a particular category, Samsung and others were able to maintain a strong presence across the spectrum, driven mainly by innovation, quick time-to-market and a segmented approach.
Overall market
However, in the overall handsets market, Nokia retained leadership position with 23 per cent share, followed by Samsung with 14.1 per cent and Micromax 5.8 per cent, in terms of sales during the quarter.
The overall India mobile handsets market sold 50.3 million units, it said.
Shipments of multi-SIM handset category continued to grow with 67.7 per cent of total shipments in the first quarter.
Total shipments of 3G-enabled mobile handsets in the country touched 4.7 million units during the period.
“With the recently announced reduction in tariffs of 3G services by as much as 70 per cent by telecom service providers, the market for both 3G-enabled devices and mobile broadband-driven content is likely to see an upward trend in adoption in the forthcoming quarters,” Mr Tarun Pathak, Analyst, CMR said.
Companies such as Motorola and Sony chose to stay in ‘high value’ smartphones segment, which accounts for 5.3 per cent of shipments. But, they added up to 23.4 per cent of the market value during the quarter.
Companies such as Nokia, RIM, Micromax, Karbonn, Lava and Spice are faced with the challenge to enhance their portfolio of products, models and services, to stay relevant and profitable in the long run, said one of the analysts.