Samsung, Micromax, and Intex lead the Indian smartphone market: IDC

According to the International Data Corporation's (IDC) Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone shipments in India jumped 21.4% in the July-September quarter this year to 28.3 million units, buoyed by a three-fold jump in demand for 4G-enabled devices.

In the third quarter of 2015, 28.3 million smartphones were shipped to India - up from 23.3 million units for the same period last year. The total handset market (feature phones and smartphones) grew about 2% to 73.8 million units in the third quarter of 2015 from 72.4 million units a year ago.

According to Karthik J, IDC Senior Market Analyst - Client devices:

"The growth in the smartphone market was helped by rising demand for affordable 4G smartphones."

In the third quarter, 4G-enabled devices witnessed almost three-fold increase in shipments over the previous quarter, with one out of three smartphones shipped featuring 4G connectivity.

Samsung led the overall market with 21.6% share. Indian handset firm Intex toppled Micromax (11.6%) to become the second largest player with 11.8%. Micromax, though, is disputing the IDC report and insists that it continues to retain its number one position amongst Indian handset makers based on import data.

Lava and Karbonn followed in the list with 9% and 6.6% share respectively. In smartphones, Samsung was the largest player with 24% share of the market, followed by Micromax (16.7%), Intex (10.8%), Lenovo (9.5%), and Lava (4.7%).

Lenovo, combined with Motorola, is now the fourth largest vendor owing to a strong 58.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth. The conglomerate commands a 9.5% market share now. Lava has slipped to the fifth position primarily because of its inability to cash in on the 4G market.

Feature phone shipments decreased to 45.6 million this year from 49.1 million in the July-September quarter of 2014. IDC said smartphones are expected to outstrip the share of feature phones in 2016 in the Indian market as low prices and better value continues to drive migration in the coming years.

According to IDC Research Manager Kiran Kumar,

"We expect smartphones to maintain a healthy double-digit growth over the next few years… 4G-enabled devices are expected to be at the forefront, with the entire ecosystem preparing for this shift in the near future."

According to the report by the research firm, almost one out of every two smartphones sold had 5-inch plus displays. Most of the popular models in the market today support 4G, have a large screen, and are priced under $200.