Indian Smartphone Market Likely To Fall By a Third In October-December: Report

The Indian smartphone market is likely to have fallen by almost a third one year, reportedly the sharpest such quarterly decline in the non-Covid times, in the October-December period, when Korea’s Samsung likely to have dethroned China’s Xiaomi from the top slot after five years, according to a report by ET.

As per the Counterpoint Research reported by ET, it is stated that November saw the steepest monthly decline ever with around 50% sequentially and 43% on-year, as low demand for the high-volume entry-level smartphone segment continued to take a hit. The report further added that Apple is likely to have cracked up the top five for the first time ever in November.

Senior analyst of Counterpoint Research, Prachir Singh, in the news report was quoted as saying, “This has been the biggest sequential decline in a non-lockdown month in the Indian smartphone market. The low consumer demand post-festive seasons as well as high pent-up inventory in the channels were the top reasons for this trend.”

Furthermore, Counterpoint Research had reportedly predicted 180 million shipments in the beginning of 2022, which it had supposed to revise to 170 million, and now to 151 million units after a weak fourth quarter.

As per earlier reports, it had also expected that the rural sector to develop at a CAGR of 6 per cent from 2021 to 2026, while the urban sector to grow at a CAGR of 2.5 per cent. According to a previous Counterpoint analysis, it was also stated that the market penetration of 5G equipped smartphones reached 51% at the beginning of 2022, exceeding that of 4G handsets. Although it noted that 5G smartphones have attracted a lot of attention in the industry and are currently accessible in many Indian cities, barely one-third of the market was anticipated to be made up of them in 2022.