The smartphone market in India grew 14.5 per cent in 2018 with a shipment of 142.3 million units, as per research firm IDC.
In the previous year, shipment stood at 124.3 million units.
During the December quarter, smartphone shipment expanded 19.5 per cent year-on-year to 36.3 million units from 30.3 million units in the same period the previous year, driven primarily by multiple rounds of sales by e-tailers beyond the festive Diwali period lasting into December.
However, shipment numbers in December 2018 quarter were down 15.1 per cent compared to the July-September 2018 period, owing to high channel inventory.
“Amongst the big highlights of 2018 were the online-focused brands that drove the share of the online channel to an (annual) all-time high of 38.4 per cent in 2018 and a whopping 42.2 per cent in Q4 2018,” IDC India Associate Research Manager (Client Devices) Upasana Joshi said.
She added that this was primarily driven by several rounds of discounts by e-tailers driving affordability through various financing options, cashback offers, and buyback schemes.
The feature phone market, which makes up 56 per cent of the total mobile phone market clocked 181.3 million-unit shipments in 2018, with 10.6 per cent YoY growth.
This was primarily driven by Jio Phone shipments through the year, contributing to 36.1 per cent of the overall feature phone shipments, IDC said.
