India’s smartphone market hits record value in Q3 2024 as 5G models dominate shipments

India’s smartphone market grew 3 per cent YoY in volume and 12 per cent in value in Q3 2024, to achieve a record-high quarter, according to Counterpoint research monthly India Smartphone tracker.

5G smartphones accounted for 81 per cent of the total shipments, with 93 per cent penetration was in the Rs 10,001-15,000 range because of Indians choice for budget-friendly 5G models.

The market share breakup for smartphones sold by Chinese, Indian and global brands have largely remained the same over the last five years. Make in India’s efforts to localise production of smartphones to the Indian soil has made no dent in the dominance of Chinese smartphones in the Indian market.

The Price-sensitive Indian consumers are consistently showing a strong preference for affordable Chinese smartphones with cutting-edge features.

As a result, despite the government’s efforts to reduce the dominance of Chinese brands in smartphones, their prevalence remains largely unaffected.

But if we talk about Chipsets, MediaTek dominated the India’s smartphone chipset market with a 54 per cent share. Apple led the premium smartphone segment holds 35 per cent share, followed by Qualcomm with 28 per cent. This highlights growth driven by affordability and technological advancements by these companies.

A smartphone chipset provides a core set of functions ranging from cellular communication, to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth uses, to general computing, power management, memory, storage interface, and peripheral interfaces.

Chinese smartphone brands have maintained a consistent market share in India, but Chinese chipset producers have witnessed very modest growth in the Indian market.

Chinese chipset producers are entering the Indian market and have witnessed a modest but growing market share in India. According to Counterpoint, UNISOC held an 11 per cent global smartphone chipset market share from Q2 2023 to Q3 2024, while HiSilicon (Huawei) held a 2 per cent share.

Globally, China is facing challenges due to US-led restrictions and with reports suggesting that the US is preparing to blacklist Chinese chipmakers on security concerns and data privacy.

In such a situation India has a great opportunity and is taking mega steps to build its chip industry from scratch. It is making a strategic push to establish a domestic semiconductor ecosystem.

The semiconductor mission of the government with a USD 10 billion investment will not only reduce the over dependence on imported semiconductor supplies but also make India an exporter of chips.

The global semiconductor market is projected to reach USD 1 trillion by 2030 and India aims to capture a significant share with these initiatives.