Smartphone ASP in India declined 12 percent in Q2 2015. Smartphone prices in India will dip 11 percent and 4G unit demand to more-than-triple, capturing 6 percent of the smartphone unit demand in 2015, said GfK.
In emerging APAC, smartphone unit demand increased 22 percent in Q2 2015. India smartphone market rose 40 percent, with local brands accounting for three of the top five smartphone vendor spots in the quarter.
In developed APAC, unit sales grew 6 percent in Q2 2015, driven by Japan (+15 percent).
Globally, 4G smartphones share grew 128 percent to capture 58 percent in Q2 2015, while 38 percent is the share of 3G phones, said GfK.
4G smartphone penetration will grow at the expense of 3G, which is currently at 38 percent of smartphone units and is forecast to decline by another percentage point by Q4 2015.
“India is expected to be the largest contributor of absolute smartphone unit growth globally this year. The reason behind this is the currently low smartphone penetration in the market together with a significant intensification of the competition amongst the smartphone vendors, which will drive ASP erosion allowing more affordable devices in the market,” said Kevin Walsh, director of trends and forecasting at GfK.
N. America and China were the only regions to see an increase in high-end smartphone unit share on a year-on-year basis.
W Europe had very high LTE penetration levels in smartphones in Q2 2015, with the Nordics taking the top three places: Norway at 90 percent, Denmarkat 89 percent and Sweden at 88 percent.
In China, the high-end smartphone market accounts for 17 percent of the market against 10 percent in Q2 2014. High-end unit demand in China will grow 28 percent this year.
In Latin America, smartphone unit demand and sales value will drop in Brazil for the first time ever, with unit sales expected to fall 3 percent, and sales value to decline 15 percent.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
