Tuesday, 3 February 2015

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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