India imports 3.69 crore smartphones in three months

A total of 69.3 million mobile phones were shipped to India in Q2, which was up 7.6 per cent over the previous quarter.

New Delhi:India smartphone market saw its highest-ever shipment of 36.9 million in the second quarter (Q2) of 2019 with 9.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and 14.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth, a new report said on Tuesday.

According to the International Data Corporation's (IDC) "Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker" report, Chinese handset maker Xiaomi saw its shipment volume grow by 4.8 per cent (YoY) in Q2 while Samsung registered a strong 16.6 per cent (YoY) growth fueled by low and mid-price segments.

"Despite the efforts towards multi-channel retailing by almost all vendors, the online channel continued its growth momentum fueled by multiple new launches, attractive offers and affordability schemes like EMIs/cashback," Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India, said in a statement.

"This resulted in the YoY growth of 12.4 per cent for the online channel with an overall share of 36.8 per cent in 2Q19," Joshi added.

A total of 69.3 million mobile phones were shipped to India in Q2, which was up 7.6 per cent over the previous quarter.

Handset maker Vivo saw a strong YoY growth of 31.6 per cent whereas Realme saw multi-fold growth, driven by newly-launched model C2 and 3/3Pro series.

India smartphone market will continue its growth trajectory in the second half of this year but the consolidation of top few brands will continue, said IDC.

"This will make it much more challenging for smaller players to find niches of growth. A very strong 2H19 is essential to bring double-digit YoY growth in the fastest-growing smartphone market of this size globally," noted Navkendar Singh, Research Director, Client Devices and IPDS, IDC India.