Asian Smartphone Market: India Leads Growth as China Continues to Slow in 2014 Q3, IDC

Reports

02 Dec 2014

Singapore and Hong Kong, December 2, 2014 According to the latest research from
International Data Corporation (IDC), the smartphone market in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ)
posted a moderate 6% Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) and 24% Year-on-Year (YoY) growth in 2014 Q3.
This trend reflects a decline in growth from previous years and is a result of its largest market, China,
having seen the last of the heydays of heady growth in the smartphone market. During the same
period, growth in China slowed down to 1% QoQ, while other emerging markets in APEJ surged ahead
with 22% growth. The tier-1 Chinese vendors have extended their reach outside of PRC and their
shipment contribution from APEJ countries excluding PRC has increased over the past few quarters.

Figure 1
Source: IDC Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, December 2, 2014.
India led QoQ smartphone growth in the region with 23 million units shipped in 2014 Q3, and added
around 5 million units to the market over 2014 Q2. The local vendors in India, particularly Micromax
and Lava, gained most from increased shipments of the 4.5" to 5 smartphone category priced at
around US$100. As a result, Micromax has extended its leadership in India and claimed 20% share in
the India smartphone market in 2014 Q3. Other emerging countries in the region also showed high
growth rates and together shipped 23 million smartphone units in 2014 Q3. In particular, Thailand,
Philippines and Indonesia surged ahead in South East Asia (SEA) with almost double the shipments in
2014 Q3 compared to a year ago.
Overall, local and Chinese vendors have gained at the cost of global vendors. The impact was more
pronounced in SEA where global vendors share dropped from 62% in 2013 Q3 to 43% in 2014 Q3.
"The local vendors have leveraged their strengths and understanding of the local market, coupled with
aggressive marketing to grow their scale in the <US$100 segment. On the other hand, the Chinese
vendors have been more focused in the price segment US$100-US$200, are also trying to differentiate
through concerted moves into the mid-range to-high-end segments as well," says Kiranjeet Kaur,
Senior Market Analyst of Client Devices Research at IDC Asia/Pacific.

IDC expects the share of phablets (5.5"<7" screen size) to steadily increase from 16% in 2014 to 34%
in 2018. "In mature markets, we expect large screen iPhones to be the key driver, while in emerging
markets, budget phones on Android operating system in the 5.5"<6" category are expected to have a
strong growth momentum. Even as 7" voice calling tablets are gaining traction in the emerging
markets in the region, the more "mobile" phablets will continue to gain momentum, as we have yet to
see a significant proportion of consumers who buy the voice calling tablets actually using it as their
primary phone," adds Kaur.

Figure 2
Source: IDC Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, December 2, 2014.
* Forecast data
Table Note: Mature Markets include Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and
Taiwan. Emerging Markets include India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, the PRC, Thailand, Vietnam
and Rest of Asia/Pacific countries.
For more information about the research or to purchase this data, please contact Sheryl Fuertez at
+65-6829-7758 orsfuertez @idc.com. If you would like to be on our mailing list for IDC's Asia/Pacific
press release, please register here.
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holders.

Companies Covered:
Lenovo Group Limited, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., OPPO Electronics Corp., Xiaomi Inc., Samsung

Regions Covered:
Asia Pacific

Topics Covered:
Android, Media tablets, Smartphone, Voice centric, Widescreen

Contact
For more information, contact:
Kiranjeet Kaur
kkaur@idc.com
+65 6829 7776
Holly Fung
hfung@idc.com
+852-2905-4225