Framingham ( Mass; USA) and New Delhi India, April 27 2013: The tipping point has been reached -- smartphones outshipped feature phones for the first time , world wide, says to the International Data Corporation (IDC) in its Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker published two days ago.
Vendors shipped a total of 418.6 million mobile phones in 1Q13 compared to 402.4 million units in the first quarter of 2012 and 483.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012. In the worldwide smartphone market, vendors shipped 216.2 million units in 1Q13, which marked the first time more than half (51.6%) the total phone shipments in a quarter were smartphones.
"Phone users want computers in their pockets. The days where phones are used primarily to make phone calls and send text messages are quickly fading away," says Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC, "As a result, the balance of smartphone power has shifted to phone makers that are most dependent on smartphones."
Samsung is the undisputed leader in the worldwide smartphone market. By the end of 1Q13, Samsung shipped more units than the next four vendors combined. The company revealed its highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S4 with new features including display, camera, WiFi, and security innovations (See our story of S4 India launch ).
Apple's smartphone shipment volume hit a new first-quarter high thanks in part to the iPhone 5, with volume growing 6.6% year over year. LG, Huawei, ZTE are the next three smart phone sellers by volume.
India scene:
India mirrors the galloping global graph of the smart phone. According to IDC Asia Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker data for CY 2012, the overall mobile phone market in India has reached approximately 218 million units, a 16% Y-o-Y growth from CY 2011. This is mostly driven by the burgeoning smartphone market in India which grew from close to 11 million units in CY 2011 to 16.3 million units in CY 2012, a considerable growth of about 48%. the India smartphone shipments reached a record high and reached a total of 5.4 mn unit shipments in 2012 Q4.Smartphones shipped to India grew 38% Q-o-Q, contrary to the 5% decline that was seen in the feature phone segment during the same period.
"Local vendors ramped up shipments and aggressively launched new models to meet the growing consumer demand in the low-end smartphone market segment," said Manasi Yadav, Senior Market Analyst in the Client Devices team at IDC India. “Local vendors have remained dominant in sub-US $100 price band while they pose serious competition to the global vendors in the US$100-US$200 price band. These two segments emerged as the most vibrant and the fastest growing smartphone price band segments in the Indian market." adds Manasi, “Smartphones with upgraded specifications, such as a 4-inch+ screen size and dual-core processors, were especially becoming popular."
Top Five India Smartphone Vendor Ranked by Unit Shipments, 2012 Q4
1 Samsung remained the leader and pace-setter for the market, inspiring both international and domestic vendors to launch their own quad-core and 5-inch+ screen size models.
2 Micromax outperformed the market through its aggressive ramp-up and an enhanced product portfolio and new launches in the past quarter.
3 Sony garnered a significant shipment share owing to its mid-tier range of smartphones (priced between $150-300) doing quite well in the market.
4 Nokia, came in fourth with its range of Lumia devices powered by Windows Phone 8 OS, again in the mid range segment, which drew noteworthy attention from consumers especially in the Tier 1 cities.
5 Karbonn, made it to the top 5 for the first time, thanks to the new range of attractively priced smartphones that were launched in 2012 Q4
This market is expected to continue its growth into 2013, driven by the stupendous growth of close to 70% in the smartphone market.