Samsung dominated Indian smartphone market in 2012

Samsung has jumped to the number one slot in most major markets around the world, so it’s no surprise that the company is at the top in an emerging market like India as well. The company’s dominance is evident in the latest market share numbers released by CMR (Cyber Media Research) as a part of their India Mobile Handsets Market Review 2012.

Around 221.6 million mobile handsets were shipped in India in 2012, registering an overall growth of 20.8% from the previous year. Of course, while that number is very impressive, 206.4 million devices out of that are feature phones, which are still extremely popular in a budget-oriented market like India.

That being said, in the past year, smartphone shipments have seen a growth of 35.7% to 15.2 million smartphones compared to 2011, and a whopping 75.2% growth in the second half of the year compared to H1 2012. This stunning growth is, in part, because of the increasing number of smartphones that fall in the $100-$350 available from local manufacturers such as Micromax, Karbonn, Lava, and more.

As expected, out of the 15.2 million, 43.1% of the devices were from Samsung, with Nokia a very distant second with 13.3%. With its very popular low-end to mid-range offerings that the company released in India in 2012, Sony managed to push out Blackberry for the third spot, with an 8.2% share of the market.

It’s also important to note that these numbers don’t include any smartphone with a display size bigger than 5 inches, which CMR considers to fall in the “phablet” category, which leaves out the very popular Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note 2 from consideration. While the distinction can be made for devices shipped in 2012, a  year in which the “phablet” was still a niche category, things will certainly have to change in 2013, with every device manufacturer, whether internationally-renowned or local, release smartphones with display sizes larger than 5 inches.

With smartphones becoming more and more budget-friendly, the report also states that there could possibly be a 100% growth in smartphone shipments this year, and while feature phones would still dominate, the numbers would fall significantly. With the standard of devices rising, and the competition between manufacturers heating up, 2013 is going to be a great year for the smartphone scene in India!