Micromax beats samsung in smartphone arena

Micromax Informatics Ltd beat Samsung Electronics Co. to become India’s largest smartphone maker in the fourth quarter of 2014, technology research firm Canalys.com Inc. said on Wednesday.

This comes two quarters after an August 2014 report by Counterpoint Research that said Micromax had beaten Samsung to become the largest handset vendor in India in the second quarter of 2014, capturing 16.6% of the market as against Samsung’s 14.4%.

Micromax, the third largest smartphone vendor in the world, is the first domestic vendor to take the top spot in the Indian smartphone market.

In the three months ended December, Micromax had 22% share of the total smartphone market in India, ahead of Samsung’s 20%, the report said.

“This incredible performance is partly due to Micromax’s continuing appeal to mobile phone users upgrading to smartphones,” the report said. “Its flagship line of products has also very effectively targeted the Rs.9,000 to Rs.12,000 segment, with products such as the Canvas Nitro and Canvas Hue.”

Canalys’ recently published estimates show that in Q4 2014 in India, 23% of shipments were of devices priced under Rs.6,000, while 41% were of devices in the Rs.6,000-12,000 bracket.

“Canalys believes catering to local market preferences will become increasingly important. Micromax has been quicker than its competitors to improve the appeal of devices, for example, by including a wide variety of local languages on its Unite phones,” said Canalys analyst Rushabh Doshi.

Overall, the Indian smartphone market grew by 90% in
the December quarter as compare to a year ago period,
with 21.6 million units shipped in the quarter.

The top four players in Q4 2014 in India by units
shipped included Micromax, Samsung, Karbonn
Mobiles India Pvt. Ltd and Lava International Ltd .