'Make in India' devices pushing smartphones sales

NEW DELHI, May 10: While India shipped a total of 52.8 million handsets against 55.4 million in the first quarter this year - registering a decline of 4 per cent (year-on-year), “Make in India’ smartphones have come of age and are pushing the sales, a latest report said on Tuesday.

The contribution of India brands was at an all-time high of 45 per cent - up 7 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2015 and “made in India” handsets contributed 67 per cent to the sales, said the “India Mobile Handset Report for 1Q CY 2016” by the market research firm CyberMedia Research (CMR). Interestingly, the contribution of Chinese and global brands declined in the same period.

“We saw for the first time that price band of Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 contributed the maximum (22 per cent) towards the smartphone shipments. Usually, the prime contributor used to be the price bracket of Rs 6,000-Rs 8,000,” said Faisal Kawoosa, lead alyst with CMR’s Telecom Practice. This increase has been primarily due to introduction of shipments by Chinese smartphone maker LeEco and launch of new handsets from Lenovo, Oppo, LG, Pasonic, Micromax, Intex, LYF (RJio) and Vivo in Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 price bands.

“Some of the smartphones that have done exceptiolly well in this price band include Lenovo’s K4 Note, LeEco’s Le 1s, Micromax’s Canvas Mega 4G, Huawei’s Honor 5X and Intex’s Aqua Freedom,” Faisal added.

The average selling prices for smartphones is also going up. While in the fourth quarter of 2015, the average selling price for a smartphone was Rs 12,285, it was Rs 12,983 in the first quarter this year. The same was Rs 10,364 in the first quarter of 2015.

“Among the handsets produced out of India, 66 per cent of the smartphones and 60 per cent of the 4G smartphones were manufactured in India itself. Now is the time to look at the premium segment where the contribution is negligible,” Faisal noted. (IANS)