(MENAFN- Live Mint) "New Delhi: India's smartphone market cooled for a second straight year in 2023, analysts polled by Mint said, even as they expect the year ahead to be better than the last. Smartphone volumes at 144-145 million units in 2023 remained unchanged from the previous year or were slightly less, four telecom analysts polled by Mint said, helped by higher-priced phones, the value of shipments touched $40-41 billion, up 8% from the previous year's $38 billion, data from market researcher Counterpoint India shows. In 2024, analysts predict value growth at 12-16%, driven by AI being embedded in devices, among other things struggle to grow volumes shows that Indian consumers are keeping their phones for longer, as well as the inability of 5G connectivity to trigger a boom to retailers and analysts, things could look up this year, thanks to the upcoming general election and proliferation of sub- ₹10,000 5G smartphones. Some, therefore, expect volumes to grow in low single digits. They also expect more takers for smartphones priced above ₹50,000, strengthening the trend of 2023. iPhone-maker Apple's performance reflects this. The Cupertino-based company continued to defy the trend, closing a 35% increase in shipments in 2023, as per a Mint analysis based on data from researcher International Data Corp. (IDC). Its growth also comes off rising disposable incomes, more discounts and easy instant financing options in India. In November, Upasana Joshi, research manager at IDC India, said that a total of 35 million smartphones were projected to be shipped in the December quarter. This is what appears to have played out as well. Navkendar Singh, associate vice-president at IDC India, said that even Apple's sales tapered off towards the end of the year as consumer sentiments remained muted.A multi-brand retailer in Delhi, who requested anonymity citing brand affiliations, said that demand at the end of the year was worse than usual.“The end of the year is typically a weak period, since it comes after the peak of the Diwali festive period. However, this year, the footfall was lower than even last year-when sales were already lower than the previous years. The only segments where buyer interests persist are in refurbished smartphones, or for the most expensive ones-which are not high-volume market movers anyway,” the retailer said. The pace of revenue growth of the smartphone market, driven by rising average selling prices, dropped by nearly half in 2023. The key takeaway here, analysts said, is the lack of organic growth in the market, which could turn out to be a worry. This is something that brands will have to contend with this year brands are looking at higher-priced models, including Xiaomi, which was the top smartphone brand for five straight years until end-2022. This year, Xiaomi is looking to 'declutter' its overall smartphone lineup, and introduce one model in each price range. This, in turn, is likely to include the premium price brackets. More brands, industry stakeholders suggest, could follow in the same step-rather than focusing only on sub- ₹20,000 price ranges that so far comprised the bulk of market demand in India, 2024 is expected to be better for the industry.“The outlook for the market will not significantly change for this year, and it could also be slightly challenging. However, you may expect low single-digit volume growth, unless any government project boosts the market,” IDC's Singh said.
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