Smartphone shipments grew 19 percent annually to reach 31 million units in India during the second quarter of 2016, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics.
India is currently the world’s third largest smartphone market, after China and the US. India is growing quickly due to low smartphone penetration rates, an expanding middle class with more disposable income, and intense competition among major vendors, retailers and operators.
Android maintained first position with a record 97 percent smartphone OS market share in India. Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Android shipped 29.8 million smartphones in India in Q2 2016, growing an impressive 28 percent annually from 23.2 million units in Q2 2015. Android maintained first position across India with a record 97 percent OS share for the quarter, up from 90 percent a year ago. Android dominates the India smartphone market and looks unbeatable right now, due to its deep portfolio of hardware partners, extensive distribution channels, and a wide range of low-cost apps like Gmail.”
Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “Apple iOS fell 35 percent annually and shipped 0.8 million smartphones in India in Q2 2016. Apple’s smartphone market share has halved from 4 percent to just 2 percent in India during the past year. Apple iOS will need to reduce iPhone pricing to cheaper levels, attract more operator subsidies and enlarge its retail presence through Apple stores or online channels if it wants to regrow significantly in the future.”
