India ships 42.8 million mobile devices in Q211

Although mobile phone shipments in India in the quarter witnessed a growth of six per cent year-on-year, this reflected a slight decline of three per cent quarter-on-quarter. According to IDC calculations, in absolute terms, the market shipped 42.8 million units in Q211.

“The smartphone segment showed an impressive growth of 68 per cent year-on-year and a marginal growth of 0.4 per cent over the Jan-March 2011 quarter, to garner a share of 5.6 per cent of the overall mobile phone market,” commented Deepak Kumar, research director at IDC, India. In Q210, the share of smartphones was 3.6 per cent of the overall mobile phone market, in unit terms.”

Nokia continued to lead the mobile phone market and the smartphone segment in Q211, with 25 per cent and 45.8 per cent shares, respectively. Nokia has focused on introducing and promoting dual-SIM handsets to a significant extent, among other measures. Samsung, second to Nokia with shares of 15 per cent and 21 per cent in the mobile phone market and the smartphone segment, respectively, also clocked the strongest smartphone shipment growth during the quarter, fuelled by its Galaxy series of handsets. In the smartphone segment, RIM occupied the third place with a share of 15 per cent.

IDC expects 2011 to close with mobile phone shipments in India of around 187 million units. IDC also forecasts the market to clock 328 million by 2015, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.5 per cent during the period of 2010-2015. The smartphone segment is forecast to see a much higher CAGR of 68.4 per cent during the same period and to achieve a shipment of 81.5 million by 2015.