The shipment of smartphones market fell in by -4% in Q4 2014 in India due to high channel inventory at the start of Q4 2014 says a report from IDC. This has happened for the first time on a quarter over quarter basis because of a surge in online sales owing to the festive season. The smartphone market declined by -4% QoQ whereas the feature phone market reduced by about -14%. The total number of mobile phones accounted to 64.3 million units in Q4 2014 reflecting a -11% drop over Q3 2014, with a year-over-year -5% decline. While the switch from feature phones to smartphones is visible, smartphones make up 35% of the total mobile business in Q4 2014, up by 13% from Q4 2013. Mobile makers including Asus, Microsoft, and HTC witnessed this traction. While Asus’ Zenphone series is popular, the product was often cited out of stock with retailers as compared to Microsoft and HTC which benefited slightly due to aggressively priced products. Indian players and the market: Samsung retained its top spot in Q4 2014 facing stiff competition from Apple. Micromax, on the other hand, witnessed a correction because of high inventory channel pumping in Q3 2014. Xiaomi made it to the top 5 smartphone vendor list despite its recent entry, only just completing a quarter in Q4 2014. Karbonn, although not a top-5 player in the smartphone category, remains a strong player in the feature phone segment. Intex also did not make it to the top-5…
