Though the percentage of 4G smartphone users is relatively small compared to budget 3G smartphone market, the number of users is not really poor.
In the first financial quarter of 2015, 2.2 million 4G LTE smartphones have been shipped in the country. And not surprisingly, Samsung took a stride to dethrone Apple from the No 1 spot.
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi stood second with a market share of 17%, while Samsung achieved 27%. Apple came third with a share of 15%.
According to the CMR analysts, Samsung reached the No. 1 spot due to its latest smartphones Galaxy A5, Galaxy A6 and Galaxy S6. But interestingly, the most popular smartphone in this quarter is the Lenovo made budget smartphone A6000.
Interestingly, other popular smartphone makers like Huawei, Blackberry and ZTE have also made a debut on the list.
"Other than the need to appear distinctive in the market as well as move with worldwide industry trends, device vendors are also trying to create a 'cult' follower-ship in the emerging Broadband Wireless Access technology space," said Faisal Kawoosa, Lead Analyst, CyberMedia Research.
"New brands entering this segment during the quarter were Huawei, Blackberry and ZTE. The total number of players shipping 4G/LTE devices in the quarter were 19, up from 12 in the previous quarter," added analyst Vikrant Singh, according to an Indian Express report.
"The total models of 4G/LTE handsets shipped during the January-March 2015 quarter were 55, with Lenovo's A6000 leading with maximum units."
According to the CyberMedia report, the number of 4G LTE devices increased from 1.06 million (Oct-Dec, 2014) to 2.2 million this quarter, out of which 97% devices are LTE based smartphones. The rest of the devices includes 4G-LTE datacards with a share of 2.64%, out of which ZTE gained 77% followed by Alcatel's 17% and Huawei's 5% share.
