India now has over 34 smartphone brands. But there are more coming as ours will be the only country worldwide to record double-digit year-on-year growth
The Indian smartphone market might seem crowded at the moment, but there are more new brands to set to enter the country which promises quick growth and penetration. Existing players in the Indian market will continue to be aggressive, but this will not deter the newbies. India now has over 34 smartphone brands. But there are more coming as ours will be the only country worldwide to record double-digit year-on-year growth in the next few years. Globally, the smartphone market will be dominated by India, followed by China and the US. These three countries are expected to grab half the global market. The next growth story in the Indian smartphone market will be mostly dependent on consumers who are looking to upgrade to a smartphone. The market will see an increased demand for 4G-enabled smartphones. According to the latest GSMA Mobile Economy report, the mobile industry in Asia Pacific is now worth more than US$1 trillion per year, fuelled by rising mobile broadband and smartphone penetration. The report also highlighted that the mobile industry contributed US$1.1 trillion to the Asia Pacific economy in 2014, equivalent to 4.7 per cent of the region’s GDP, with over a quarter of this economic contribution generated directly by mobile operators. “The Asia Pacific region features some of the world’s most advanced mobile markets, as well as fast-growing emerging markets that are using mobile as a platform to deliver essential services such as education, healthcare and banking,” said Anne Bouverot, Director General of the GSMA. “These findings demonstrate how mobile is enabling digital inclusion and building digital societies across Asia, supporting a new era of innovation in areas such as digital commerce, the Internet of Things and mobile identity.” At the end of the first quarter of 2015, there were 1.8 billion unique mobile subscribers in Asia Pacific, representing 45 per cent of the region’s population. China, India, Indonesia and Japan – account for over three-quarters of the region’s subscriber base. “Many of the largest markets in the region are still relatively underpenetrated. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, for example, have a combined population of over 1.6 billion, but a unique subscriber penetration rate of only 36 per cent on average. Connecting these unconnected citizens will therefore be a major focus for both the mobile industry and policymakers in the region over the coming years,” according to a statement.
