The country’s smartphone shipments fell 10% year-on-year to 43 million units in July-September quarter owing to higher prices in the entry-level smartphones, according to data by International Data Corporation (IDC). The smartphone shipments during the quarter were the lowest since 2019.
During the period, the average selling price (ASP) of smartphones increased 15% y-o-y and 6% q-o-q to a record $226. Higher prices led to weakness in demand for smartphones.
“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,” said Upasana Joshi, research manager of client devices at IDC India. In the quarter, 5G smartphones accounted for 36% of the total shipments with 16 million units.
Also read: Xiaomi Redmi Pad review: The best budget tablet you can buy today
The decline in overall shipments was seen in smartphones below $300 (Rs 24,000), which fell 15% y-o-y. Besides, premium smartphones of above $500 (`40,000) recorded a 64% growth, led by Apple with a 63% share of the premium shipments, followed by Samsung at 22% and OnePlus at 9%.
Among the top smartphone brands, shipments of Xiaomi, Vivo, and Realme fell significantly in the range of 18-19.5% during the quarter. On the other hand, Samsung saw a marginal decline in shipments, while Oppo was the only brand in top five which saw its shipments rising 6.1%.
According to IDC, high channel inventory continued despite schemes and price corrections to clear the stocks, which has become a concern with the vendors.
Despite a fall in shipments, Xiaomi continues to lead the market with a share of 21.2%. The company shipped 9.2 million units during the quarter. Samsung regained the second spot with a market share of 18.5% and shipments of 8 million smartphones in the July-September quarter.
Samsung led the 5G segment with a 27% share of the segment, with 53% of its portfolio already on 5G, IDC said.
Smartphone brands such as Vivo and Realme stood at third and fourth position, respectively, whereas Oppo bagged the fifth position. In the quarter, Vivo smartphone shipments came in at 6.3 million, followed by Realme at 6.2 million and Oppo at 5.4 million.
Also read: India lifts ban on VLC Media Player website after legal notice
Analysts see the smartphone market to be muted in the October-December quarter as well owing to higher inventory and fall in demand post-festival season. In 2022, the shipments are expected to fall 8-9% y-o-y to 150 million units.
“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,” said Navkendar Singh, associate vice president, devices research at IDC.
