Indian 4G smartphone sales surge 2,400% in 3Q: research

4G and LTE smartphones numbers grew at an astonishing 2,400-per cent rate in India reaching 10 million units in Q3 of 2015, a new report by Counterpoint Media research shows.

While the top vendor positions had not changed drastically, Chinese start-up Xiaomi suffered a massive fall, being dented by Micromax's Yu.

According to research from Counterpoint's Market Monitor service, for the July-September quarter the smartphone shipments in India grew at 20 per cent annually. 

''Indian smartphone market is being fuelled by two device trends, one is LTE and other being a phablet form-factor. LTE smartphone shipments more than doubled sequentially and almost up 2,400% more compared to last year. Additionally, one in two smartphones shipped in India was a phablet,'' said Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.

He added that LTE smartphones with sub $100 pricing were seeing significant proliferation. With the new smartphone consumer moving online as well, Counterpoint said, one out of three smartphones was sold via online channels like Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, etc. Among three smartphones sold was an LTE phone and one out of four was a ''Made in India,'' device the report noted.

Meanwhile, among market leaders, Samsung continued to be in pole position in India and controlled 19 per cent of the over all mobile phone market and 23.2 per cent of the smartphone market. The report said, Samsung's mid-tier J series had been critical in maintaining volumes for the vendor, although it had lost share sequentially with minor presence in sub $100 smartphone segment, which was the fastest-growing one.

Micromax was in the second position with a market share of 13.7 per cent (overall mobile) and 17.7 per cent (smartphone). The report said Micromax had seen its share from online channel increase during the quarter but faced increasing pressure in the $50-$100 category.

According to the report, Micromax's Yu brand was also growing steadily and was now selling more smartphones than Xiaomi online.

On the basis of Counterpoint's analysis, YU's new phones had dented Xiaomi's online space.