INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
New Delhi: Reliance Retail's JioPhone emerged as a clear leader in the country's mobile handset market with a 27 per cent share in the
second quarter of 2018 in the 'Fusion' segment, according to report. JioPhone has given birth to a new segment in India - the "Fusion"
phones segment. "Fusion" handsets have a feature phone form factor with 4G connectivity and may have a closed apps ecosystem enabling
limited smart features for users, the report by CyberMedia Research (CMR) said on Thursday."The second quarter of 2018 saw the arrival of
Fusion phones as a distinct category
Though it is primarily driven by JioPhone, Indian brands like Micromax and Lava are also shipping in smaller quantities," said Narinder
Kumar, lead analyst, IIG-CMR.One in four mobile handsets is now being manufactured in India at a completely knocked-down (CKD) level."In Q2
2018, there are two trends underlining short-term turbulence
First is the impact of Jio's disruptive monsoon offer leading to erratic demand projection estimations for all major handset brands.""Second
is the capabilities of smaller players to switch to CKD manufacturing and maintain production levels with their own SMT lines," said Prabhu
Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR.Reliance was followed by Samsung at a 17.2 per cent market share in the segment."In a
first for mobile handset brands in India, mobile handset shipments are set to cross a 300 million milestone by the end of 2018 and
smartphones will outstrip feature phones and Fusion phones collectively by 2020," the report said."Smartphones above Rs 4,000 are being
shipped with 4G connectivity
LTE handsets grew 104 per cent compared to the same period last year," the report added.
