NEW DELHI – In a first, the country’s smartphone market fell by 4per cent in the October-December period last year as compared with the previous quarter, research firm IDC said.
Overall, mobile phone shipments in one of the world’s fastest growing handset markets stood at 64.3 million units in Q4 2014, reflecting a quarter-on-quarter drop of 11per cent over Q3 2014 and an annual drop of 5per cent.
“India’s smartphone market observed shipment contraction in Q4 for the first time ever. This was largely owing to a high channel inventory at the beginning of the quarter amongst general trade which in turn was caused by the surge witnessed in online sales during festive season,” IDC said in a statement.
The fourth quarter in 2014 was seen as a “correction phase” wherein the smartphone market declined by 4per cent, while the feature phone market tanked by around 14per cent over July-September 2014, it added.
Going ahead, IDC projects a sluggish January-March 2015.
