Micromax, Intex, Karbonn were the fastest depleting brands in Q2, 2018 in India: CMR

According to a new report by research firm CMR, domestic manufacturers such as Micromax, Intex and Karbonn were the fastest depleting handset brands in Q2, 2018.

While Xiaomi added the most 36.9 percent of new devices across India followed by Vivo (17.8 percent), Oppo (16.3 percent), itel (6.7 percent) and Huawei's Honor (4.5 percent).

Kanika Jain, Manager, New Initiatives said, "Customer stickiness is the paramount concern that homegrown brands need to address immediately. Consumers continue to swap their existing Smartphones with the new ones offered by Chinese brands resulting in fast erosion of total installed base of the local Indian brands."

"This is a very grave situation for such brands as they cannot work on any strategy to monetize on the base as it continues to deplete every quarter," concluded Kanika.

The report further identifies that the replacement market continues to grow in the country and as of 2Q 2018, 59 percent of the Smartphones sold were actually upgrades/replacements to existing Smartphones.

The report is based on the analysis of over 200 million users across the country, where the device movements of users are captured and analyzed using big data analytics techniques.

There is still 41 percent of new smartphone market development occurring in the country, which could be a pie that the domestic brands should focus upon.

However, that is also witnessing competition because of the cannibalization of Fusion Phones, especially in the Smartphone range of up to Rs 4,000.

Highlights

1 Over 72 percent of users replaced their existing Indian brand Smartphone in 2Q 2018.

2 Xiaomi led the gainer brands with 37 percent additions.

3 The fastest depleting brands in the category were Micromax, Intex, HTC, Karbonn, and Gionee.

However, another research firm Counterpoint recently said that Samsung has managed to take the lead over Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi in Q2 2018 with a 29 percent market share.

Counterpoint data said OnePlus lead the premium Rs.30,000 segment for the first time ever.