India’s smartphone shipments rose, albeit marginally, by 1.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 32.5 million units during January-March of calendar year (CY) 2020 even as the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) jolted markets globally. India is the only market among the top 3, which includes China and the US, to have posted a growth during the quarter.
However, the pandemic’s impact on the domestic market has become more pronounced, with IDC forecasting that during 2020 (CY), India will experience a slower-then-expected consumer demand and supply chain disruptions.
According to IDC, India was the only country among the top 3 to see any growth, as both the China and US markets declined y-o-y by (-)20.3%) and (-)16%, respectively, in Q1 2020.
Inventories in the Indian market remained high throughout distribution channels due to seasonally low demand in the first quarter, clubbed with the Covid-19 impact from mid-March 2020 onwards, as the nationwide lockdown was announced, the market research agency added.
“Online channel grew by 9% y-o-y in Q1 2020 due to multiple new launches, attractive discounts, cashback offers and affordability schemes registering a share of 43.1%. While offline channel shipments declined 3.5% y-o-y, owing to fewer consumer offers, fewer retail walk-ins and a more aggressive portfolio available on e-tailer platforms across leading brands,” IDC India associate research manager (client devices) Upasana Joshi said.
With a 5.5% y-o-y growth, the average selling price (ASP) for the smartphone market stood at $171 (around Rs 12,500). The sub-$200 (Rs 15,000) segment continued to dominate, accounting for 76.2% of the total market.
The mid-range segment of $200-300 (Rs 15,000-22,000) grew 87.4% with its share doubling to 18.2% (of the total market) in Q1 2020, mainly due to Samsung the Galaxy A51, the Vivo S1 pro/S1, and the Redmi Note 8 Pro.
The mid-premium segment of $300-500 (Rs 22,000-35,000), with a share of 3.8%, declined on an annual basis by 33.8%.
In this space, Samsung shipments still witnessed multifold growth with the newly-launched Galaxy A71, Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note 10 Lite, followed by the Realme X2 Pro/X50 Pro and OnePlus 7T.
In the premium $500+ (above Rs 35,000) segment, Apple continued to dominate with a market share of 62.7%, followed by Samsung and OnePlus. The ultra premium $700-1,000 (Rs 50,000-70,000) segment registered a high growth as well, as shipments doubled y-o-y, with the iPhone 11 accounting for 68% of shipments in this segment.
Going ahead, IDC India’s research director (client devices & IPDS) Navkendar Singh expects Covid-19 to have a substantial impact on the Indian mobile phone market in 2020, with potential supply chain disruptions and slower-than-expected consumer demand for the next few quarters.
“IDC expects the India mobile phone market to follow a U-shaped recovery from Q3 2020 onwards. The pent-up demand from first half of the year will gradually shift to second half, rolling over to 2021 as well. A revival in consumer demand is expected around the festive quarter of Q4; with amplified marketing and promotional activities,” he added.