Micromax Beats Samsung in Indian Smartphone Market, Says Canalys

Micromax has topped smartphone shipment numbers in India in Q4 2014, according to analyst firm Canalys. The popularity of its mid-end smartphones such as the Canvas Nitro and Canvas Hue helped push the local handset maker ahead of Samsung, the tech giant from South Korea.

Canalys' recently published estimates show 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).

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Canalys Analyst Rushabh Doshi said, ‘Canalys believes catering to local market preferences will become increasingly important. Micromax has been quicker than its competitors to improve the appeal of devices, for example, by including a wide variety of local languages on its Unite phones. Lava, another domestic vendor, has launched devices that cater to the preference for greater battery life - in this case a couple of days. But vital to success is selling these handsets at low price points to appeal to the bulging mid-level income market in India.'

Overall, the Indian market experienced very strong annual growth of 90%, with 21.6 million units shipping in the quarter. The other major local vendors continued to jostle for third and fourth places. The top four players in Q4 2014 in India by units shipped were Micromax, Samsung, Karbonn and Lava.

So although Micromax and Samsung are still the biggest single vendors, with Karbonn coming on strong.

Stay tuned to GizBot for more updates!