Indian smartphone maker Micromax dethroned Samsung to become the top company in India for the first time, according to a report from Canalys. This is the first time a domestic smartphone company is leading the Indian market.
India’s smartphone market is the third largest in the world in terms of number of smartphones sold. Smartphone companies from around the world are heavily investing in India, where users give a lot of importance to how a smartphone looks on paper, a tendency that has been severely exploited by companies like Xiaomi by launching year old smartphones, with good enough specifications, cheaply in India.
The report stated that Micromax’s market share in India was 22 percent compared to Samsung’s 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, with other Indian companies Karbonn and Lava at third and fourth position respectively. Overall, Indian market grew by 90 percent with 21.6 smartphones shipped in the last quarter.
According to the report, “this incredible performance is partly due to Micromax’s continuing appeal to mobile phone users upgrading to smart phones. Its flagship line of products has also very effectively targeted the US$150 to US$200 (INR9,000 to INR12,000) segment, with products such as the Canvas Nitro and Canvas Hue. “
The report further mentioned that “in Q4 2014 in India, 23% of shipments were of devices priced under US$100 (INR6,000), while 41% were of devices in the US$100 to US$200 bracket (INR6,000 to INR12,000)”, which is a proof of how users seek budget friendly phones rather than premium ones.
Image : Canalys
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