India's LTE handsets estimated to surpass the USA in next 1 year: Counterpoint

India's LTE installed base of handsets crossed 150 million units only behind China and USA now and is estimated to surpass the USA in next one year, according to a new report from Counterpoint's Market Monitor service.

In terms of performance during the quarter, Smartphone shipments in India grew by modest 4 percent year on year ( Y-O-Y)in Q2 2017. Like China, the top five brands contributed to almost 70 percent of the total smartphone market. Although local brands grew during the quarter but are still unable to find their place among the top five smartphone players in a third successive quarter.

Karn Chauhan, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research said, "Local brands did relatively well during the quarter after three-quarters of the lull but still have a significant task cut out to reclaim the market share back from rivals."

Karn said, "Then again, Chinese players such as OPPO, vivo, and Gionee continued to outspend their rivals during the quarter especially riding high on the IPL and Champions Trophy cricket tournaments. These brands also benefitted from a refreshed portfolio in the important ₹10K-20K segment."

Chauhan highlighted that "Second quarter of the year normally sees an uptick in promotions and advertisement spending by the OEMs due to sporting events like IPL and cricketing events along with new seasons of TV shows. However, this time the promotions were extended both in offline and online channels as brands tried to clear the inventory ahead of GST (Goods and Services Tax) implementation from 1st of July."

The report also says that Feature phone segment still holding strong in India and now with the announcement of LTE based smart feature phone "JioPhone" by Reliance Jio, we estimate that conversion from feature phones to smartphones is likely to slow down in short to mid-term.

Meanwhile, Chinese brands performance remained strong and now contributing to more than half of the total smartphone shipments. It is their second successive quarter when their market share is well over 50 percent after they took over local players in 2H 2016. Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and Gionee were the fastest growing smartphone brands with strong offline and advertising push.