IDC reported the Indian smartphone market was flat with a 1% uptick in shipments totalling 146 million units in 2023.
The analyst company stated H2 shipments grew by 11% year-on-year which offset the sharp 10% decline in H1. The fourth quarter alone saw shipments of 37 million units, a growth rate of 26% year-on-year. The second half of the year benefitted from several new model launches.
Consumer demand “remained stressed” leading to excess inventory across channels despite price corrections and schemes from vendors.
Around 79 million 5G smartphones were sold in 2023 due to launches in the mass budget segment. The average selling price of 5G devices dropped to US$374, a decline of 5% YoY in 2023.
Almost a million foldable devices were shipped as average selling prices declined by 4% to US$1,236. Samsung was the leader in the foldable market despite market share dropping to 73%. It faces competition from Motorola, Tecno, OnePlus and OPPO in the foldables segment.
Samsung took 17% market share in overall smartphone shipments, down by 1.1%, while vivo secured second place with 15.2% up from 14.1%, and it was the only Chinese vendor to see growth among the top five manufacturers.
Fellow Chinese vendor Realme took third with 12.5%, with Xiaomi following with 12.4% and Oppo with 10.3%.
IDC predicted the Indian smartphone market will see flat or low single digit growth in 2024.
