India smartphone sale increased 14 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017, GfK said.
The report said the recently announced Goods and Services Tax (GST) will not have any impact on smartphone demand in India.
GfK forecasts that overall smartphone demand in the emerging Asia region will be 234 million units (+11 percent) in 2017, representing the strongest growth across all regions.
Smartphone demand in the emerging Asia was 56.7 million (+13 percent) units – driven by growth in Bangladesh and Malaysia.
Smartphone demand in Bangladesh grew 40 percent, while Malaysia noticed 31 percent growth in sale.
The size of the global smartphone market was 347 million (+4 percent) in Q2 2017. Emerging Asia led the demand growth with 13 percent increase, followed by Central and Eastern Europe at 11 percent, and Latin America at 10 percent.
Smartphone market value grew 9 percent year-on-year, due to rising average sales price (ASP).
The global smartphone market will grow in 2018 as well.
“Device manufacturers are maximizing their creativity to ensure their latest devices are irresistible – and to increase ASP as a result. Macroeconomic factors and consumer confidence have an impact, but operators and retailers are employing localized tactics to ensure the smartphone remains the connected device of choice,” said Arndt Polifke, global director of telecom research at GfK.
In Western Europe, smartphone demand totaled 28.7 million units (–three percent) — caused by saturation in Germany, Great Britain and France. In these markets demand fell -4 percent, -5 percent and -7 percent respectively. GfK expects major device launches in 4Q to help moderate declines to 0.4 percent in 2017.
In Central and Eastern Europe, smartphone demand reached 18.7 million (+11 percent) with Russia showing 11 percent and Ukraine achieving 22 percent growth. GfK raised its forecast for smartphone demand in the region slightly to 85.2 million (+9 percent) in 2017.
In North America, smartphone market grew 6 percent to 47.4 million units. GfK said smartphone demand in the region will be 203 million units (+2 percent) in 2017.
In Latin America, smartphone demand rose 10 percent to 27 million units — driven mainly by pent-up demand for smartphones in Brazil.
In Middle East and Africa, smartphone demand totaled 42.2 million units (+1 percent) — largely due to macroeconomic weakness in the region and device saturation in the Middle East.
In China, smartphone demand plateaued at 110.1 million units, showing no change year-on-year. This moderation of growth in demand for smartphones was caused primarily by saturation in the market.
In developed Asia, smartphone demand totaled 16.1 million units in 2Q17 (–three percent). Drop in demand in South Korea offset the increased demand in both Japan (+12 percent) and Australia (+9 percent).
