Mobile phone landscape: India H1 2015Launch and search trends

The #1 Gadget Research Website in India

Nitansh Rastogi, Correspondent

A bevy of phones came our way in H1 2015 >

MARKETWATCH

1

Onwards and upwards: number of phone launches likely to increase by 50% in 2015

Number of phones launched in 2013, 2014 and H1 2015

957

1137

857

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

Projected

launches

in H2

2015

2013 2014 2015

1,700+

Actual

launches

in H1

2015

Top brands by number of smartphone launches in H1 2015

41

2421

1715

13 1210 9 9

Intex Micromax Samsung Karbonn Lava XOLO HTC Spice Sony iBall

Indian brands continued their domination in terms of smartphone launches

2

Note: To consider only smartphones, devices priced below Rs 3,000 have been removed

Top brands by number of smartphone launches above Rs 10,000 (in H1 2015)

International brands dominate launches priced above Rs 10,000

15

9

76

4 43 3 3

2

Samsung HTC LG Sony Xiaomi Micromax vivo ZTE Asus Gionee

3

Samsung launched devices across all price bands, including the Rs 5-

10k band, unlike the previous year

4

1

5

7

2

6

4

3

4

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Below 5k

5k-10k

10k-20k

20k-30k

Above 30k

H1 2014

H1 2015

Number of phones launched by Samsung in H1 2014 and H1 2015

HTC targeted the Rs 20k and below segments more than in the previous year

5

3

5

1

3

1

2

2

2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Below 5k

5k-10k

10k-20k

20k-30k

Above 30k

H1 2014

H1 2015

Number of phones launched by HTC in H1 2014 and H1 2015

Sony also shifted its focus from the high-end segment to budget offerings

6

Number of phones launched by Sony in H1 2014 and H1 2015

3

2

3

1

4

2

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5

Below 5k

5k-10k

10k-20k

20k-30k

Above 30k

H1 2014

H1 2015

Micromax increased concentration of launches to the below Rs 5k range,

while reducing launches above Rs 5k

7

Number of phones launched by Micromax in H1 2014 and H1 2015

27

9

4

16

20

9

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Below 5k

5k-10k

10k-20k

20k-30k

Above 30k

H1 2014

H1 2015

Some interesting trendsspotted in H1 2015 >

BIG TRENDS

Devices priced between Rs 5k and 10k gained the most in user views,

while high-end devices saw a sharp decline in popularity

2%

36%

33%

8%

18%

2%

45%

33%

11%

5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Below 5k 5k-10k 10k-20k 20k-30k 30k and above

H1 2014

H1 2015

Popularity of devices by price-band (in terms of % of user searches)

8

The year of Chinese invasion – share of Chinese origin brands

increased more than three-fold

Indian brands

27%

Chinese brands

7%

Other International

brands66%

Share of user views by brand origin

(H1 2014)

Indian brands

28%

Chinese brands

22%

Other International

brands50%

Share of user views by brand origin

(H1 2015)

9

Indian brands – brands originated from India such as Micromax, Intex and Lava

Chinese brands – brands originated from China such as Lenovo, Xiaomi and Gionee

Other International brands – brands apart from the above two such as Samsung, HTC and Sony

17.9%

10.8%

4.8%

2.3%

0.0%

8.2%

0.0%

15.0%

1.4%

4.0%

13.9%

9.5%

8.1%7.3%

5.4% 5.0% 4.8% 4.4%3.9% 3.7%

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

16.0%

18.0%

20.0%

Samsung Micromax HTC Lenovo Xiaomi Sony ASUS Nokia Intex Lava

H1 2014

H1 2015

With increased competition, most of the top 10 brands declined in

relative popularity, except HTC, Lenovo along with the new entrants

Top brands in terms of user views in H1 2014 vs H1 2015

10

New Entrants

Brands that were ousted

from the list:

• Karbonn

• Apple

• Gionee

The online-only trend grew further – Motorola marked the start of this

concept last year, but it became mainstream this year

Share of user views of devices selling exclusively online in 2014 and H1 2015

11

4%

7%

16%

20%

33%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 H1 2015

5-inch is the new small: 9 out of 10 popular devices across all price

bands sport 5-inch & above displays

2

2

3

5

1

1

5

5

9

7

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

5k-10k

10k-20k

20k-30k

Above 30k

Below 5-inches 5-inch Above 5-inches

Top 10 devices based on user views in H1 2015, segregated on the basis of screen size

12

Popularity of devices

based on user views on

91mobiles.com >

H1 2015REPORT CARD

The chart toppers – the top three most popular phones in H1 2015

ASUS ZenFone 2Price:

Rs 12,999 – Rs 22,999

(four variants)

Launched in: Apr 2015

13

Samsung Galaxy

Core PrimePrice: ~Rs 8,000

Launched in: Dec 2014

YU YurekaPrice: Rs 8,999

Launched in: Jan 2015

12

3

Top 10 devices in H1 2015: almost all priced below Rs 20k, no flagship

devices make the cut

Rank Mobile name Price band Launched in

1 Asus ZenFone 2 10-20k Apr 2015

2 YU Yureka 5k-10k Jan 2015

3 Samsung Galaxy Core Prime 5k-10k Oct 2014

4 HTC Desire 620G 10k-20k Dec 2014

5 Lenovo K3 Note* 5k-10k July 2015

6 Samsung Galaxy A7 20k-30k Feb 2015

7 Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G 5k-10k Dec 2014

8 Samsung Galaxy Core 2 Dual SIM 5k-10k Jul 2014

9 Xiaomi Mi 4 10k-20k Feb 2015

10 Micromax Canvas Nitro A311 5k-10k Sept 2014

14

*The Lenovo K3 Note became popular in terms of user searches even before its launch

Top 10 devices in H1 2015 in terms of user views

4G phablets rule the roost in the Rs 5k-10k segment in terms of user views

15

YU YurekaLaunched in:

Jan 2015Samsung

Galaxy Core

PrimeLaunched in:

Dec 2014

Lenovo K3

NoteLaunched in:

Jul 2015

Xiaomi Redmi

Note 4GLaunched in:

Dec 2014

Samsung

Galaxy Core 2Launched in:

Jul 2014

#1

#2#3

#4#5

Top 5 devices basis user views priced between Rs 5,000 – 15,000 in H1 2015

HTC is the most popular brand in the Rs 10k-20k segment

16

HTC Desire

820Launched in:

Nov 2014

Lenovo P70Launched in:

May 2015

Xiaomi Mi 4Launched in:

Jan 2015

HTC Desire

620GLaunched in:

Nov 2014

ASUS

ZenFone 2Launched in:

Apr 2015

#1

#2#3

#4#5

Top 5 devices basis user views priced between Rs 10,000 – 20,000 in H1 2015

Top devices in the Rs 20k-30k segment: an assorted mix of old flagships and new launches

17

Samsung

Galaxy A7Launched in:

Jan 2015

Gionee

Elife S7Launched in:

Apr 2015

HTC Desire

826Launched in:

Apr 2015

Sony Xperia Z

UltraLaunched in:

Jul 2013

Samsung

Galaxy S5Launched in:

Apr 2014

#1

#2#3

#4#5

Top 5 devices basis user views priced between Rs 20,000 – 30,000 in H1 2015

Most popular devices priced above Rs 30k – the usual suspects

18

LG G4Launched in:

Jun 2015

Google

Nexus 6Launched in:

Nov 2014

Samsung

Galaxy S6Launched in:

Mar 2015

Samsung

Galaxy Note 4Launched in:

Oct 2014

Apple

iPhone 6Launched in:

Nov 2014

#1

#2#3

#4#5

Top 5 devices basis user views priced above Rs 30,000 in H1 2015