According to research firm IDC, in the first quarter of calendar year 2016, we find Reliance Jio who has a market share of 7.1 per cent has become the fifth largest smart phone vendor by replacing Lava. This period record shows huge shipments of 4G devices by Reliance Jio. The record also reveals 5 per cent dip in Lava’s share. The 4G smart phone market is led by Samsung followed by Lenovo and Reliance Jio. By shipping its LYF-branded smart phones, Reliance Jio has started building the Voice over LTE known as VoLTE devices base. The firm said that due to the launch of its 4G service offerings they are expecting their shipments to grow in the next quarter also.
IDC said the first quarter of 2016 saw the 4G based smart phone shipments touch 15.4 million units which shows a growth of more than six times over the same period last year. He also said that the 4G-based device shipments accounted for nearly 65.5 per cent of overall smart phone shipments in the period, which was driven primarily by Samsung’s J-series models. Jaipal Singh, Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC said in a statement Qualcomm and Samsung are spearheading this growth while MediaTek, along with Chinese and Indian vendors, are driving the 4G volume in India. Adding to that, telecom players are playing a pivotal role in setting up the infrastructure and promoting 4G leading to wider awareness of this next gen technology in India.
During January to march smart phone vendors shipped 23.5 million units of smart phone that is around 5.2 per cent more than last year. However the fourth quarter shows a drop of 8,2 per cent. IDC also said that, as Micromax, Intex and Lava struggled to push their inventories into the market their shipments dropped 20.4 per cent sequentially. Also due to the launch of new products LeEco, Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo and Coolpad gained in the first quarter of the year.