India smartphone user base tops 300 million as smartphone in India grew a healthy 18% annually in 2016 compared to the global smartphone market which grew a modest 3%, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service.
Counterpoint said Apple achieved a landmark, crossing 2.5 Million units in a calendar year, with a 1/3 of its total shipment coming alone from the record fourth quarter driven by seasonality and the launch of iPhone 7.
At the same time, Chinese brands raced to capture a combined 46% of the total smartphone shipment in Q4 2016, up from 14% a year ago. Furthermore, November 2016 saw Chinese brand share reach an all-time high, accounting for 51% of the total smartphone market.
According to Counterpoint, Chinese brands OPPO, vivo, Lenovo and Xiaomi continued to grow at the expense of Samsung and Indian brands. Their success was attributable to a variety of factors including strong marketing and channel push, as well as better access to components that were in limited supply. As a result Chinese brands captured close to 50% market share.
Feature Phone shipments grew 4% YoY as the feature phone to smartphone transition slowed in the second half of 2016 due to the strength of ultra-low cost brands, such as iTel.
