India’s smartphone shipment grew by 11.5 per cent in the first quarter of calendar year (CY) 2024 on a year-on-year basis to 34 million units.
This is the third consecutive quarter of growth in shipments, International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker said.
However, the firm expects the overall growth for smartphones to be in mid-single digits for 2024.
“The first few months of the year have provided momentum for the smartphone market in India.
"However, the second half of the year will be crucial. IDC estimates a modest overall annual growth in the mid-single digits for 2024,” says Navkendar Singh, associate vice president, Devices Research, IDC.
Singh said that the reasons for the tepid growth include challenges around attracting first-time smartphone users and the impact of the second hand market.
“Notably, the market’s concentration among the top brands is weakening, with the long tail of smaller brands and sub-brands gaining volume.
"The share of the top five brands has dropped to 65 per cent from 69 per cent a year ago,” Singh added.
In the overall market share, the top three brands were Vivo, Xiaomi and Samsung, making up 53 per cent share in this segment.
Vivo has dethroned Samsung to top the chart with a market share of 16.2 per cent.
While Samsung saw its market share fall to 15.6 per cent for the Q1 of CY2024.
This is down from the high of 20.1 per cent in Q1 of CY23.
For the quarter, growth was driven by the super-premium segment ($800+), which grew the highest with 44 per cent growth, with its share up from 7 per cent to 9 per cent.
The iPhone14/15/14 Plus, 15 Plus together accounted for 64 per cent of shipments, followed by the Galaxy S24/S24 Ultra/S23/S24+ with 25 per cent share.
Overall, Apple led the segment with a share of 69 per cent, followed by Samsung at 31 per cent.
After the super-premium, the share of entry-premium ($200<$400) segment reached 23 per cent, up from 20 per cent growing by 25 per cent YoY.
OPPO and Realme gained a significant share, making up almost 30 per cent of this segment.
Shipments to the mass budget ($100<$200) segment grew by 22 per cent Y-o-Y, reaching 48 per cent from 44 per cent a year ago.
“Several new launches across multiple price segments happened during the quarter, coupled with increased promotional activities, particularly around premium offerings.
"Brands continued their focus on microfinancing schemes to drive affordability.
"eTailers organised several sales events and offered discounts on models nearing their end-of-life (EOL), resulting in increased demand and lean inventory,” said Upasana Joshi, senior research manager, Client Devices, IDC India.
For the first quarter smartphone ASPs (average selling price) remained flat Y-o-Y and Q-o-Q at $263, ending the streak of strong ASP rise for the last several quarters.
The entry level (sub-$100) segment declined by 14 per cent Y-o-Y to 15 per cent share, down from 20 per cent a year ago. Xiaomi continued to lead this space, followed by Poco and itel.
The mid-premium segment ($400<$600) segment declined by 46 per cent in unit terms to a 3 per cent share, down from 6 per cent a year ago.
OnePlus led with a 38 per cent share, followed by vivo and OPPO.
The premium segment ($600<$800) held a 2 per cent share and declined by 21 per cent in unit terms.
Key models were the iPhone 13, Galaxy S23FE/S23, iPhone 12 and OnePlus12.
Apple’s share declined Y-o-Y to 45 per cent, while Samsung was a close second with a 44 per cent share, up from 16 per cent a year ago.
About 23 million 5G smartphones were shipped in the quarter.
The share of 5G smartphone shipments increased to 69 per cent, up from 46 per cent in 1Q23, while 5G smartphone ASPs dropped to $337, a decline of 21 per cent YoY in 1Q24.
Within 5G, shipments of the mass budget ($100<US200) segment grew three times to reach 46 per cent share.
Xiaomi’s Redmi 13C, Vivo’s T2x, Samsung’s Galaxy A15, Vivo’s Y28 and Apple’s iPhone14, were the highest shipped 5G models in 1Q24.
Apple, with an ASP of $953, had a record first-quarter shipment, growing by 19 per cent YoY.
Price discounts, special deals on eTailer platforms, and attractive financing options led to this consistent growth for Apple beyond the festive season. iPhone 14/15 made up 56 per cent of shipments for Apple.
