Samsung was already the largest Smartphone seller in India, but now, they have also overtaken Nokia in overall Mobile phone market share in India.
According to mobile market tracker data released by GfK-Nielsen, Samsung’s overall market share in Urban India is 31.4 percent as compared to Nokia’s 30.1 percent. This is the first time Samsung numbers have crossed Nokia’s in GfK-Nielsen’s survey. [source]
While Samsung has just surpassed the Volume wise market share, in value terms Samsung’s market share [42.20 percent] is more than double that of Nokia [20.7 percent]. This is because Samsung’s market share in smartphones, which are priced much higher than feature phones, is far higher than that of Nokia.
GfK-Nielsen has not released its all India figures, which include rural market share, but it is expected that Samsung should be quite close to Nokia’s overall market share even though it may not be able to surpass it.
The data released by GfK-Nielsen can be termed as quite accurate as it tracks sales in 793 cities and towns with a population of over 50,000, accounting for more than 70% of India’s total handset sales.
Nokia to Fall further or will it revive?
The big question is whether Nokia will be able to revive its past glory. At it’s peak, Nokia held over 80 percent mobile phone market share in India, but in past 5 years they have witnessed continuous fall.
There are many reasons why Samsung Trumped and Nokia fell. But there are 2 primary reasons – They could not tackle the local brands who came up with feature rich dual sim phones at lower cost and their lack of focus in Smartphone Market.
Right Nokia is trying very hard to regain its lost glory on both fronts – With Lumia series for Smartphones and Asha series for Feature phones (latest being Asha 210 launch), but the competition from local brands as well as domestic brands is so fierce, it is a tough road ahead for them.
Personally, I do not see Nokia coming to top anytime soon, unless they come up with something that is truly magical.
Would love to hear your views on this!
