JioPhone captures 47% market share in Q2: Counterpoint

According to a new report by research firm Counterpoint, Mukesh Ambani- owned Reliance Jio captured 47 percent feature phone market in Q2, 2018 driven by the success of its Jiophone.

The report also predicts that Reliance Jio is likely to maintain the growth momentum as it refreshed its Jiophone coupled with aggressive upgrade offer of Rs. 501 and bringing popular apps including WhatsApp to Jiophone 2.

While South Korean tech giant Samsung regained its lead in Q2 2018 with 29 percent market share thanks to strong performance of models such as Galaxy J6, Galaxy J2 2018 and Galaxy J4 focusing on the budget segment.

On other hands, Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi recorded its highest ever shipments in India during Q2 2018 and the growth can be attributed to its strong product and supply chain strategy which has allowed it to launch products with a longer shelf life than its competitors and that too in the important sub Rs. 10000.

For those who are unaware of Jio is also bringing three apps such as WhatsApp, YouTube, and Facebook to its feature phones on August 15.

The company has also launched a special JioPhone recharge plan under Monsoon Hungama.

Under this offer, users will get unlimited voice & data for six months on paying the only Rs.594 at the time of activation. According to the telco, JioPhone users will also get an exchange bonus of 6GB data voucher, worth Rs 101.

This takes the total data to 90 GB over 6 months, Jio said.

"There are currently 2 JioPhone plans available: Rs 49 and Rs 153. The Rs.49 plan is a kind of trial plan with 1 GB monthly data, whereas our highest selling plan Rs 153 provides 1.5 GB of data/day. We realized that there are some users who may want lesser data and therefore must get the plan at a lower price.

Hence we are introducing Rs 99 with unlimited free voice, 0.5GB data/day and 300 SMS for 28 days. This will reduce the monthly spends straight away by nearly 50 percent," the company said.