India has overtaken the US to become the worlds second largest smart phone market - news report from Canalys says.
According to the report, smart phone shipments in India's for the first time crossed the 40 million mark in Q3 all thanks to a 23 percent annual growth. India now sit second to China which holds the number one spot with 110 million shipment per quarter..
The competition between Samsung and other Chinese smart phone companies keeps getting stiffer as Chinese companies have dominated the India smart phone market.
However, Canalys said that Samsung still remained at the top with 9.4 million shipments made in Q2, going up by 30 percent, though Xiaomi is set to over take it after recording over 290 percent growth to reach 9.2 units shipments.
India for some time now has been expected to overtake the US in terms of sales and shipments given the large population which stands at over 1.3 billion compared to the 320 million population in the US.
"This growth comes as a relief to the smartphone industry. Doubts about India's market potential are clearly dispelled by this result," a statement from Canalys analyst Ishan said.
The reports shows three Chinese brands (Vico, Oppo and Lenovo) rounding up the top five, while Apple can't be seen anywhere close. Although the US is said to have shipped about 2.5 million smartphones into India in 2016, the low demand for iPhones can be attributed to their high price as most of their sales are recorded only in urban places.
Indians have appluaded the surge for smartphones although watchers have said that the India market will require a little more time due to sales hindering factors such as import taxes, poorer internet quality, complicated supply chains and local retail laws.