Samsung retains top spot in the 4G LTE mobile handsets: CMR

Samsung led in the 4G LTE mobile handsets with 21 percent market share, while Lenovo dominated the 4G LTE tablet market with 41 percent market share, as per CMR's Annual 4G LTE Devices India Market Review Report.

The report said the 4G LTE shipments in India grew 80 percent in 2017 Year-on-Year (YoY), with total shipments reaching 148.3 million units.

Meanwhile, CMR pointed out that, in 2017, Chinese brands grew aggressively with 143 percent sequential growth, thereby, contributing to 1 in every 2 4G LTE device shipped in India

"The Chinese success story in India can be traced to their keen and clear understanding of the needs of the discerning Indian customers, and offering them, with the latest specs at affordable price points," Prabhu Ram, Head - Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR said.

LYF was the only domestic brand among the top three 4G LTE mobile handsets makers with 14 percent market share, CMR added.

Prabhu further added, "Amongst Indian brands, only LYF was in the top three contributing 14 percent of the 4G LTE mobile handset devices in India. Alongside, Reliance Jio's JioFi devices shook the 4G data card market in CY2017, contributing to the extraordinary availability of LTE. On the back of Reliance Jio, 4G in India will continue to grow in an upward trajectory, with India becoming a fully-developed 4G nation this year."

In the tablet category, Lenovo led the 4G tablet shipments in 2017 and contributed 47 percent to the total shipments, followed by Samsung with 19 percent and iBall with 15 percent shipments.

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Narinder Kumar, Lead Analyst, CMR, "CY2018 will further see 4G technology adoption continuing to gain traction in India. This will be largely driven by adoption of 4G smartphones. The recent trend of 4G feature phones, and bundled offerings at the entry level price band will further see 4G LTE device shipments grow, largely from first-time 4G users."