Feature phone shipments saw a decline of around 49%: CMR

According to a new report by research firm CyberMedia, mobile handset shipments in India recorded a 25 percent YoY decline in 1Q 2019 while feature phone shipments saw a noticeable decline of around 49 percent, while smartphones recorded a healthy 10 percent growth.

Narinder Kumar, Lead Analyst- Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, "The overall market decline was on expected lines for Q1 2019. The above industry average stock build-up at the end of the previous quarter resulted in lower shipments. Also, the recent change in eCommerce rules in India impacted the online dependent players."

CMR said Samsung topped the overall mobile handset leaderboard with a 22 percent market share, followed by Xiaomi with 16 percent and LYF at 13 percent.

4G contributed to 66 percent of mobile handset shipments, while 2G accounted for 34 percent. However Chinese handset brands continued to dominate the mobile handset leaderboard while the market share of Indian brands dipped to 30 percent during the same period.

It is interesting to note that shipments of the top five smartphone players accounted for 83 percent of total smartphone shipments in Q1 2019. The hyper-competitive nature of the smartphone market saw intense competition, resulting in sequential decline by 10-12 percent for both Xiaomi and Samsung shipments," said Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR.

The Indian smartphone market saw the affordable smartphone segment (Rs 7,000- Rs 25,000) growing by 75 percent while the value for money segment (less than Rs 7,000) experienced a 22 percent growth.

The premium segment (Rs 25,001- Rs 50,000) grew at a flat 2.4 percent YoY.

On the future outlook, CMR said, "The dominant thread for CY2019 would be the return to prominence of offline channels. All major brands that enjoyed an online-exclusive growth, would now further expand aggressively. The battleground for market dominance for mobile handset players would shift to India's hinterland. At the same time, the focus on online channels would continue for smartphone brands."