4G Wave Is Sweeping Urban India; Apple Finally Beats Xiaomi; Delhi Is The Biggest Smartphone Market in India – IDC

American market research IDC has just released their latest report on smartphone sales in India during the period October-December, 2015. As per the findings, a new wave of 4G is sweeping urban India as it accounted for 45% of all online smartphone sales in the urban locations, which is a new record.

As it happens whenever a new technology is launched, urban India is increasingly inclining towards 4G enabled phones, while rural India is massively ditching feature phones, and embracing 2G and 3G smartphones.

If we talk about urban India, then 40.7% of all customers either chose Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy series; and this new demand for iPhone has enabled them to finally overtake Xiaomi to reach #6 spot for top 30 cities in India. These 30 urban locations accounted for 51% of overall smartphone sales.

Delhi has emerged as the top smartphone market in the country, beating Mumbai.

Overall Samsung retains it’s #1 position as the largest mobile brand while Micromax is at #2, followed by Lenovo at #3 and Motorola at #4. Samsung’s J Series and On Series constituted 29.4% share within top 30 Indian cities.

Urban cities have once again dominated the online sales volume of smartphones, as 6 out of 10 sales were generated from top 5 Indian cities, and 4G accounted for 45% share of all sales.

For the niche market of smartphones priced more than $300, Apple is the undisputed leader with 42.1% share.

Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India are witnessing a new craze for 3G phones, as sales of feature phones have dropped. Top 25 tier 2/3 cities in India captured 21.3% share of overall smartphone market as 66% of all sales were smartphones under $100 range.

The report mentions that going by the demand of 4G handsets in India, it will soon overtake 3G market, and become India’s #1 choice in smartphones. Lenovo, Motorola and Xiaomi increased their market share solely due to the new demand of 4g handsets.

But the way Apple has beaten Xiaomi was the most interesting part, as their price revision strategy for 5S, 6 and 6 Plus worked. Last year in March, tech community in India was shocked when Xiaomi overtook Apple in the 4G niche.

Micromax was able to maintain their lead over Motorola, Lenovo & Intex because of their dominance over sub-$100 niche, where it commands 14.7% market share (both urban and rural)

The report mentions that as 4G services are being launched in every part of the country, its demand will only increase in the coming days.

India is one of the fastest growing markets for smartphones, as 100 million shipments were crossed last year. In 2015, total of 103.6 million smartphones were shipped, which is 28.8% higher than 2014. As per IDC, smartphone sales will jump 40% in 2016 as they will overtake the demand of feature phone by year end.