India’s smartphone market remained flat year-on-year with shipments of 44 million units in Q3 2023 due to a sluggish performance in the quarter, a recent research said. Its forecast for the market in 2023 suggests that shipments will remain stable or decline slightly. The first two months of the third quarter, July and August, saw single-digit growth as channels began early seasonal stocking, the research said. However, September saw its lowest shipments since 2019 due to declining demand and higher prices.
A report International Data Corporation (IDC) says the Indian smartphone market maintained 44 million unit shipments in the third quarter, resulting in flat growth on a year-on-year basis. ASP (average selling price) increased by 12 per cent YoY and 5 per cent QoQ (quarter-on-quarter) to reach $253 (about Rs 21,000).
The report said that sellers across all channels, online and offline, preferred budget 5G smartphones over others. 5G smartphone shipments accounted for 25 million units, setting a record 58 percent share. Since most 5G models were released in the mass budget bracket ($100 < $200 (roughly Rs. 8,300 < Rs. 16,700)), the segment's 5G share has increased from 34 percent to 52 percent. The top three 5G models shipped in the third quarter of the year were from Apple iPhone 13Xiaomi’s redmi 12and Samsung’s Galaxy A14,
Despite the decline in shipments year-on-year, Samsung overtook Vivo to become the most popular brand. Among the top five brands, Samsung had the highest ASP at $381 (roughly Rs. 31,700), growing 43 percent year-on-year. The report also said that with the help of recently released realme c53 And realme 11xThe Chinese brand reached second place. With the exception of iQoo, Vivo achieved the fastest growth among the top five brands, thanks to its reasonably priced Vivo Y and Vivo T series phones. Both Poco and OnePlus saw growth of 50 percent or more year-on-year, with the OnePlus Nord CE3 Lite accounting for 35 percent of shipments.
In just one quarter, shipments of foldable phones reached a record 500,000 units, with Samsung taking 66 percent market share. The average selling price of a foldable phone has dropped to $1,198 (roughly Rs. 99,800) from $1,319 (roughly Rs. 1,09,800) a year ago due to new releases by Motorola at affordable prices.
Shipments through offline channels grew by double digits in Q3 2023 and remained larger than online channels. According to the report, several e-tailer events (e.g. Amazon Great India Festival And Flipkart’s Big Billion Days) Exclusive online deals and special platform pricing helped boost online demand.