More than half of the shipments are due to online channels. However, it does not seem to suffice the required market growth.
As per IDC’s quarterly mobile phone tracker report, India’s smartphone market declined 10% YoY totalling 43 million units being shipped in 3Q22 (July-September). Post-2019, this has been the lowest third-quarter shipment in spite of the festive season. This weak demand could negatively impact further shipments. The average selling price however grew by 15% YoY to USD 226.
Upasana Joshi, Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India said, “The ASP has grown consistently for the past eight quarters in a row due to increasing costs and growing 5G shipments at mid-premium price points.”
From the 43 million, 25 million units attribute to the online channel clocking a 58%share. Offline shipments, on the other hand, have declined by 20% YoY as they struggled to generate demand while competing with aggressive online plays. 16 million units were occupied by 5G smartphones; as MediaTek-based smartphones increased to 47% of the total market, while Qualcomm’s decreased to 25% with UNISOC following at 15%.
Xiaomi continued to maintain its lead, inspite of its declining shipments while Samsung took the second position. vivo stood third as realme stood fourth. OPPO occupied the fifth position as the only vendor in the top 5 with a 6% shipment growth.
Navkendar Singh, Associate Vice President, Devices Research, IDC, “Inventory pile up and post-festive cyclical demand tapering will lead to a muted 4Q22. 2022 is likely to see shipments of around 150 million units, a decline of 8-9% YoY. The major challenges going into 2023 are the impact of inflation on consumer demand, increasing device costs, and slow feature phone-to-smartphone migration. However, the migration of 4G smartphone users to 5G smartphones should give a growth fillip to the market in 2023, especially in the mid-premium and above segments.”
