Samsung leads India smartphone segment in Q4, Apple ships around 5 lac iPhones: Counterpoint

NEW DELHI: Smartphone major Samsung led the overall mobile phone and smartphone market with a market share of 16.1% and 27.4% respectively, in the October-December 2014 quarter, while Apple’s iPhone shipment touched half a million units for the first time in a quarter with strong demand for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Counterpoint Research said.

Micromax, which according to another research firm Canalys surpassed South Korea major to become the leading smartphone supplier in India in the fourth quarter, had 19.5% smartphone market share, as per market research firm Counterpoint, which also ranks it at the second spot in the overall mobile phone market with 14.4% share.

Counterpoint says that Micromax’s smartphone shipments grew 75% on yearly basis but declined sequentially.

Intex entered the top 5 smartphone vendor rankings for the first time in a quarter, capturing slightly under 7% of the market share during the quarter. It surpassed Lava, Karbonn and Motorola to become the third largest smartphone vendor in the quarter. “Intex smartphones enjoyed a strong demand in sub-$100 smartphone segment especially for its Aqua 3G and Y Pro models,” the firm said.

Lava stood at the fourth spot with 5.1% smartphone market share, followed by Lenovo (Including Motorola) with 4.7% smartphone share. Lenovo moved up to the number fifth position primarily due to its acquisition of Motorola.

Smartphone shipments stood close to 22 million during the fourth quarter, reaching a record level crossing 80 million units for the first time and contributing close to 32% of the overall shipments in the calendar year 2014. India is the third largest smartphone market in the world, shipping almost twice as many smartphones shipped in Japan in 2014.