Mobile shipments to India up 13.8 pc in July-Sep

New Delhi: Mobile handset shipments to India increased by 13.8 per cent to 47 million units in July-September, 2011, propelled by sales of dual-SIM handsets, according to research firm IDC.

On a quarter-on-quarter year-on-year basis, mobile phone shipments were up 12 per cent. "... The mobile phone shipments witnessed a spurt, as vendors built channel inventories ahead of a long festival season. Dual-SIM handset shipments were notable, with a sequential growth of 25.2 per cent over the previous quarter,"

International Data Corporation (IDC) Research Director for India Deepak Kumar said in a statement. Looking ahead, the IDC said, "The calendar year 2011 is expected to close with mobile phone shipments of around 184.4 million units... Market to clock 301 million by 2015, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.03 per cent during the period of 2011-2015."

The smartphone segment is forecast to see a much higher CAGR of 63.4 per cent during the same period to achieve shipments of 77.5 million units by 2015, it added.

In the July-September quarter, the smartphone segment witnessed a growth of 51.5 per cent year-on-year and 21.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter to garner a 6.5 per cent share of the overall mobile phone market, IDC said.

Finnish cellphone company Nokia was the leader in both feature phone and smartphone categories, with a 31.8 per cent and 35.3 per cent market share, respectively, during the period under review.

Korean company Samsung stood second, with a 17.5 per cent of the feature phone segment and a 26 per cent share of the smartphone market.

Spice and MAXX were the top home-grown brands, witnessing a growth of 34.1 per cent 10.1 per cent, respectively, in total shipments during the July-September quarter vis-a-vis the previous quarter.

From an operating system perspective, Android phones overtook Symbian to emerge as the top platform in India for the first time, with a 42.4 per cent share of the smartphone market.

Shipments of Android smartphones grew by 90 per cent in July-September in comparison to the previous quarter.

Apple's iPhones, which use the iOS operating system, consolidated their market share further during the quarter, accounting for 3.09 per of overall smartphone shipments, compared to 2.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2011.