Smartphones are an important part of our lives and people have been buying more and more smartphones this year. India’s smartphone market registered a massive year-over-year (YoY) growth of 42% in October shipping 21 million units.
The report comes from the International Data Corporation (IDC), India Monthly Smartphone Tracker. As per the tracker, the growth was mainly driven by multiple online sale festivals and the growing demand from 3rd quarter of 2020. This is the highest ever October shipments and 2nd highest for a month, following 23 million units in September 2020, an all-time high for a single month.
The online channels saw a growth of 51% in share (growing by 53% YoY) while the offline channels too saw a healthy YoY growth of 33%. Xiaomi, vivo, and Samsung LED in the mow-midrange segment with the Redmi 9, Note 9, and vivo Y20 as the top models. The segment saw an YoY growth of 60%.
The premium segment saw multifold growth with high shipments of the iPhone XR, iPhone 11 and the OnePlus 8 being the top models, driven by affordability schemes/offers.
Xiaomi remained the number 1 manufacturer, followed by Samsung, vivo, realme, and Oppo. These top 5 vendors remained the same as they were in Quarter 3 of 2020.
On City level, a record 22 million smartphones were sold in October, registering an YoY growth of 38%, driven by consumer purchases during the pre-Diwali month.
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata, registered more than 50% YoY growth in October and held 25% of the market.
Jaipur, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bhopal & Coimbatore, also grew by ~50% YoY and emerge as the next set of top cities that can witness even further growth in the future. However, the rest of the states (up-country markets) registered slower growth (avg. ~25%), primarily owing to looming economic concerns and consumer spending being focused on essentials only.
The leading 50 cities of India accounted for ~55% demand nationally.
Talking about channel trends, the consumers resorted to online purchases despite the delayed deliveries due to restrictions in certain zones, and registered a 23% YoY growth with 50% share.
IDC says that the bigger cities were dependent heavily on online channels, with 57% online share in the top 5 metros. Xiaomi led in 34 of the major 50 cities within the online channel while Vivo led in 44 of the major 50 cities within the offline channel.
For Price trends, the Market Operating Price stood at US$190 (approx Rs 14,000) in October, with 68% of the market in the sub-US$200 (approx Rs 14,700) range. Online channels fueled growth in the Rs 7,000 to Rs 14,000 price segment, registering a 93% growth YoY, collectively accounting for almost half of the sales in October. Further, Xiaomi was the leading brand in 30 of the top 50 cities within the sub-Rs 15,000 segment.
The midrange segment (Rs 14,000 – Rs 22,000) accounted for almost a fourth of devices sold in October. Samsung led in 36 of the top 50 cities of India.
The premium segment (Rs 36,000+) on the other hand saw an YoY growth of 16% in October, as Apple led the market in 49 of the top 50 cities. This segment accounted for 5% of the market share in the leading 50 cities of India, compared to less than 1% in rest of cities.
“Half a million 5G devices were sold, with almost 80% from the top 10 cities of India. Though 5G is a driver from a technological advancement standpoint, uncertainties on spectrum availability, clear use cases and high prices might restrict its uptake to few bigger cities initially,” says Sachin Mehta, Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India.