India’s smartphone market saw 7 per cent year-over-year (YoY) growth in 2021, despite supply chain-related issues linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the research firm International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Total shipments clocked at 161 million for the year, and while the year started strong, the second wave of Covid-19 impacted overall growth.
According to IDC, constrained supplies resulted in low inventories across online and offline distribution channels in the second half of the year. This is when the Indian market has a high demand given the festive season. The big winner in 2021 was Realme, which managed to reach the number two vendor position in the final quarter of the year. This was also noted by reports from other research firms such as Canalys, and Counterpoint Research. It was also the only player which saw double-digit growth in the quarter as well as the entire year.
Overall, supply challenges and the second wave of Covid-19 severely restricted the market’s ability to achieve double-digit growth in 2021. Consumer demand is lower than expected as we entered 2022, but supply challenges are expected to ease by mid-2022, which should help in maintaining similar growth levels in 2022,” Navkendar Singh, Research Director, Client Devices & IPDS, IDC India said.
IDC expects that the transition from 4G to 5G will continue to drive growth in 2022, though it will be limited to the mi and high-tier price segments. “Consumers continue to demand better features like the camera, battery, and processors over 5G capability in the entry-level price segments. The large feature phone base will remain crucial but elusive to the smartphone market in the absence of any affordable offerings at the entry-level,” Upasana Joshi, Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India said.
