Smartphone shipments in 2019 is expected to reach upto 160 million in India. India is expected to be the only major smartphone market to grow in 2019, following on from a strong 2018, compared with China.
This compares with over an expected 150 million in 2018, compared with around 134 million in 2017. The Indian smartphone market is estimated to have grown 12% on year when global smartphone market is estimated to decline for the first time ever in a single year.
Growth in the world’s fastest growing smartphone market revived in 2018 backed by a contraction in product replacement and upgradation cycles as a result of aggressive smartphone launches across price-points and an array of product financing schemes, discounts and buy-back offers, a trend which is likely to follow through in 2019 as well.
“There is a large replacement cycle due in 2019, for users who bought their first 4G smartphone between 2015 and 2017,” TechArc founder Faisal Kawoosa said.
During the year, $100-$200 smartphone segment emerged as more than half of the market, driving up average selling price for brands, likely translating to higher revenue.
Prabhu Ram, head of the industry intelligence group at CyberMedia Research, stated that the online market grew beyond the established tier 2 cities, providing wider coverage and scope for entry-level as well as established brands such as Asus and Huawei/Honor.
During the whole 2018, online channels, such as Amazon and Flipkart, provided a much-needed growth impetus to declining brands like Asus and Huawei/Honor, besides enabling the entry of new exciting brands like Realme, and Meizu.
The overall feature phone segment will see 18% growth in 2018 to 193 million units, while 4G feature phones will see 268% growth to 70 million units, as per CMR estimates.