Hyderabad, Feb 11 (Agency ) India’s smartphone market increased by 7 per cent year-on-Year (YoY) in 2021 despite continued pandemic related challenges, according to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. India shipped 161 million smartphones in 2021 even as supply and pandemic related challenges created disruptions during the year, IDC said in a release here on Friday. With 81 million units, the online channel registered 13 percent YoY growth, surpassing the offline channel. The year 2021 started strong with pent-up demand from 2H20 (July- December) and positive sentiments around vaccinations but a severe second wave of Covid-19 dealt a blow to the growth. Constrained supplies resulted in low inventories across channels in the second half of the year, which usually has a high demand during the festive season. 1Q22 (January-March) is expected to remain flat YoY amidst a low seasonal demand and a mild impact of the ongoing third wave of Covid-19, which will give the brands time to replenish their inventories. The transition from 4G to 5G will continue to drive growth, though still restricted to mid and high-tier price segments.
“Consumers continue to demand better features like the camera, battery, and processors over 5G capability in the entry-level price segments. The large feature phone base will remain crucial but elusive to the smartphone market in the absence of any affordable offerings at the entry-level,” said Upasana Joshi, Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India. The online market was driven by heavy marketing and initiatives like multiple sales festivals, attractive financing schemes, cash back & exchange offers, and trade-in programs while the offline channel contracted in 2021, IDC expects offline shipments to recover some lost ground in 2022. MediaTek-based smart phones recorded a 54 per cent market share, creating a bigger lead over Qualcomm with more than 85 percent of its smart phones below US$200.
UNISOC regained some momentum reaching a 7 percent share, up from 2 percent in the previous years. ASPs peaked at US$190, growing by 15 per cent annually. The share of the premium segment doubled from a year ago to 4 per cent in 2021, growing by more than 100 percent annually, largely due to higher Apple shipments. The sub-US$100 was the only segment to decline YoY. IDC expects ASPs in 2022 to be high due to the rising cost of components and higher share of 5G smartphones.
“Overall, supply challenges and the second wave of Covid-19 severely restricted the market’s ability to achieve double-digit growth in 2021. Consumer demand is lower than expected as we enter 2022, but supply challenges are expected to ease by mid-2022, which should help in maintaining similar growth levels in 2022,” said Navkendar Singh, Research Director, Client Devices & IPDS, IDC India. Highlighting the top 5 Smartphone Vendor, IDC said that the Xiaomi maintained its leadership position for four consecutive years with 40 million units, though declining by 1.5 percent YoY in 2021 and Samsung, at the second slot, registered a YoY decline of 6 percent in 2021, shipping 28 million units while Vivo was at the third position, with a shipment decline of 6 per cent YoY, though it continued to lead with a 28 per cent share of offline channel shipments in 2021. Realme at the fourth slot registered the highest growth of 26 percent YoY amongst the top 5 vendors and OPPO, at the fifth slot, witnessed a healthy growth of 8 percent YoY in 2021 to 18 million units, the release added.