Smartphone demand drops for 4th qtr
NEW DELHI : Domestic demand for smartphones continued to be tepid at best, as India saw a fourth straight quarter of annualized shipment declines. A 3 August report by market researcher International Data Corp (IDC) India said shipments of smartphones in India fell 3% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 34 million units shipped during the period—after registering 16%, 27% and 10% y-o-y shipment drops in the three quarters preceding June.
This also corresponded to a 10% y-o-y drop in the total number of smartphones shipped in India in the first half of the year, at 64 million units. The drop in shipments continues as buyers remain averse to new purchases.
Industry experts said the factors behind this decline include macroeconomic and inflationary concerns, the lack of compelling features in smartphones that would push users to upgrade, strong financing options in higher-priced smartphones pushing the refresh cycle upward, and the inability of brands to bring cheaper smartphones with 5G—due to high supply chain costs. Interestingly, IDC data pegged Vivo to be the only one of the top-five brand to have registered a growth in device shipments in the June quarter—with the rest registering declines.
Xiaomi, which held the number one spot in India’s smartphone market for five straight years until last year’s September quarter, registered the biggest decline—with shipments falling by a massive over 39%. “Brands presently do not have the ability to absorb the high supply chain costs in the market, to be able to produce a well-featured 5G smartphone that costs between ₹10,000 and ₹15,000.
As a result, prices of 5G phones have not declined. At the affordability point of under ₹10,000, buyers are instead opting to purchase refurbished and
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