India is Now the Second Biggest Mobile Market in the World

For the longest time, the two biggest mobile markets in the planet were China and the United States. China, of course, is number one, mainly because apart from being a major mobile market, it also happens to be the most populous country in the world. As for the United States, its smartphone adoption is very, very high, despite the fact that its population is only about a fourth of China’s.

But according to a new report recently released by Canalys, it appears that India has supplanted America as the world’s second biggest mobile market. The firm claims that during the third quarter of this year, the volume of smartphone shipments in the Indian mobile market has breached the 40 million mark for the first time. More impressively, the recently concluded quarter has seen India register a 23 percent yearly growth in terms of smartphone shipments.

Considering that recent estimates place India’s population at more than 1.3 billion (as of 2016), the country was more or less expected to overtake the United States soon (whose population is around the 320 million mark). But until relatively recently, mobile devices are still fairly expensive gadgets, and despite the growing presence of emerging mobile markets (of which India is one), the fact remains that not everybody in those markets can still afford to buy a smartphone.

There is significant progress, however, and India can be considered an example of an emerging mobile market that can evolve into a major one in the next few years. It bears noting though that there is still a long way to go before India can give China a run for its money. On a quarterly basis, China regularly records over 110 million units in terms of the volume of smartphone shipments. 

Furthermore, despite its vast potential, India has a lot to sort out first before it can become a true major mobile market. Chief among them is establishing a better mobile Internet infrastructure for its mobile using populace, as well as improving its distribution channels, local regulations with regards to retail, and import tax policies, among many others.

Still, a lot of brands are already establishing a solid presence in the Indian mobile market. Samsung (who else?) leads the way with shipments of 9.4 million units in India (an increase of almost 30 percent), while Xiaomi is not far behind with shipments of 9.2 million units. The Chinese phone maker earns additional kudos though for registering a year over year growth of more than 290 percent (that is not a typo) in India. Completing the top five are the usual suspects Vivo, Oppo, and Lenovo.