MUMBAI: Counterpoint Research, a market research company has said that India will have more than a billion smartphone users in the next five years. The number of users will exceed 700 million by the year 2022.
With every passing year, mid-range smartphones (ranging Rs 14,000 – Rs 29,000) are expected to rise. In 2018, the mid-range smartphone segment will see a growth of 20 per cent and by the next five years a humongous rise by almost four times is expected. This will make it one of the most significant segments in the country.
Counterpoint Research associate director Tarun Pathak said, “Features such as full-screen displays, dual-cameras, biometric security and support for Artificial Intelligence (AI) are beginning to make in-roads to the mid-range. They will become widespread over the next few years”.
Counterpoint’s report on “India Mid-Tier Smartphone Segment and opportunity for SoC players”, did mention how users were investing on mid range smartphones and moving on from sub ranged (Rs 10,000) smartphones since many features and capabilities seemed to be common among flagship models.
These advanced features will be enabled with the underlying System-on-Chip (SoCs) and other components. This will help OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer) to differentiate their offerings in the mid-tier segment at a time when overall smartphone innovation is perceived to have plateaued, explained Pathak.
After China, India is the second largest smartphone industry in the world with more than 400 million active users.
Xiaomi, Asus, Nokia HMD and others will look to give tough competition to Samsung, Vivo, Apple, OPPO and Huawei which were the leading brands in the first half of 2018.