Micromax is now No 1 smartphone company in India, Samsung loses crown ;
crown
This one is a big win for Micromax. According to Canalys, a respected
market research firm, the Indian company has beaten Samsung and has now
become the number one smartphone vendor in the country. While the
difference between Samsung and Micromax is marginal on the basis of the
figures from the fourth quarter of 2014, it is significant that the
local firm has beaten the global giant on at least one, albeit
important, parameter.
"This incredible performance is partly due
to Micromax's continuing appeal to mobile phone users upgrading to smart
phones. Its flagship line of products has also very effectively
targeted the Rs.9,000 to Rs.12,000
segment. Addressing these important segments has helped it take a 22
per cent share of the total smart phone market in India, ahead of
Samsung at 20 per cent," Canalys wrote in a blog post.
Canalys analyst Rushabh Doshi said that price-sensitivity of the market and the local customisations have helped Micromax.
"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. (Also) vital to success is selling these handsets at low
price points to appeal to the bulging mid-level income market in India,"
he said.
For Samsung the loss of crown in India comes just weeks
after Canalys put Xiaomi ahead of the Korean company in China, a very
important market given its size. In China too Samsung was earlier number
one but now that position is occupied by Xiaomi, a local company.
The
numbers from Canalys are, however, unique to it. Given the low
difference in numbers of Samsung and Micromax, it is possible that other
research firms like IDC and Gartner may show a different position in
their quarterly reports, which are likely to be out in the coming weeks.
All research firms use different ways to track smartphone markets.
That
said, even if the IDC or Gartner numbers are different, for Micromax it
is a significant moment of triumph. Until one year ago Samsung's
position in the market looked unassailable. But as the number of
first-time smartphones users grow, companies like Micromax have been
able to capitalise on the growth in a better way compared to Samsung,
which has remained hesitant in serving the needs of consumers in entry
and mid-level segment.
Canalys said that in Q4 2014 in India, 23 per cent of shipments were of devices priced under Rs.6,000 while 41 per cent were of devices in the Rs.6,000 to Rs.12,000 bracket.
"Overall,
the Indian market experienced very strong annual growth of 90 per cent,
with 21.6 million units shipping in the quarter. The other major local
vendors continued to jostle for third and fourth places. The top four
players in Q4 2014 in India by units shipped were Micromax, Samsung,
Karbonn and Lava," said Canalys.
The competition in the mid and
low end of the market is so fierce that even Micromax is feeling the
heat. In 2014, both Xiaomi and Motorola made serious inroads in the
Indian market with their aggressively priced phones. Another company
that tried to cash in on the smartphone craze was Asus, which too relied
on aggressively priced phones to create buzz. Recently, Lenovo, which
now also owns Motorola, announced A6000 phone, a phone priced at Rs.6,999.
Samsung,
which has tried to compete by focusing on the brand value of its Galaxy
phones, doesn't seem to have an answer to devices like Micromax Yu
Yureka or Xiaomi RedMi Note. To attract first-time buyers recently it
launched Z1, a phone that uses Tizen software. While the phone looks
good, it may find it difficult to compete with the likes of the Asus
ZenFone 4 and RedMi 1S, which have similar price but offer support for
more apps.
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