Samsung Dominates Smartphone Business; Nokia Manages Lead for Overall Mobile Market in India: Report

South Korean electronics behemoth Samsung which is already crowned world smartphone leader has emerged as the top smartphone maker in India as well, says CyberMedia Research.

Samsung came at the top of the charts with more than 43 percent market share, covering almost half the Indian mobile market. Its rival Nokia came a distant second with 13.1 percent. Thanks to its Xperia series, Sony Mobiles managed to get into the top three with 8.2 percent market share.

Indian Smartphone Market Share Calendar Year 2012:

However, Samsung could not beat Nokia in terms of overall mobile market which includes both low-cost feature handsets and smartphones.

The CMR report states that out of 221 million plus mobile handset shipments in 2012, only a mere 15.1 million shipments were reported to be of smartphones, helping Nokia to hold on to the crown. Emerging Indian smartphone maker Micromax also made it to the top three.

Indian Overall Mobile Handsets Market Share for Calendar Year 2012:

CMR lead analyst Faisal Kawoosa reasoned that '"Although we see a huge market 'hype' around smartphones, the fact remains that the India Mobile Handsets market is still dominated by shipments of feature phones. On the other hand smartphone shipments are growing fast. This indicates India is still a 'new phone' market, where feature phones contribute to the bulk of shipments compared to replacements or upgrades."

"This propensity on the part of Indian subscribers of mobile telephony services to purchase large numbers of feature phones has paved the way for the establishment of Indian brands, which are largely focused on this segment."

The CMR report also mentioned that the Indian mobile phone market in 2012 grew more than 20 percent thanks to robust handset shipments crossing more than 221 million units, up 38.2 million shipments compared to previous calendar year.

Recently, international market watchdog IDC (International Data Corporation) had predicted that the Indian market, which is currently placed sixth in the global smartphone market, will continue to grow steadily and be among the top three smartphone markets by 2017.