Over 72% of Users Replaced their Existing Indian Brand Smartphone in 2Q 2018: CMR

As per CMR’s India Smartphone Movement Report, 2Q 2018 Xiaomi added the most 36.9% of new devices across India followed by Vivo, Oppo, Intel and Huawei (Honor).  During the period, the fastest depleting brands in the category were Micromax, Intex, HTC, Karbonn and Gionee.

Releasing the first edition of the report, Kanika Jain, Manager, New Initiatives said, “Customer stickiness is the paramount concern that home grown brands need to address immediately.  Consumers continue to swap their existing smartphones with the new ones offered by Chinese brands resulting in fast erosion of total installed base of the local Indian brands.”

“This is a very grave situation for such brands as they cannot work on any strategy to monetise on the base as it continues to deplete every quarter,” concluded Kanika.

The report further identifies that the replacement market continues to grow in the country and as of 2Q 2018, 59% of the smartphones sold were actually upgrades/replacements to existing smartphones. There is still 41% of new smartphone market development occurring in the country, which could be a pie that the domestic brands should focus upon.  However, that is also witnessing competition because of the cannibalisation of Fusion Phones, especially in the smartphone range of up to Rs 4,000.