Sony Overtakes Apple To Become India's 2nd Largest Smartphone Brand | TechTree.com

Sony Overtakes Apple To Become India's 2nd Largest Smartphone Brand

It still isn't smooth sailing for Sony with the added competition from Nokia, Micromax and Motorola in the mid-range phone segment

 

Japanese electronics giant Sony has overtaken Apple to become the second largest smartphone brand in India in terms of value sales, boosted by its increased focus on the mid-range (Rs 10,000 – Rs 20,000) smartphone segment.

 

According to an IDC report, Sony increased its value share of the Indian smartphone market to 9.1 per cent in the October-December quarter of 2013. Value share of its chief rival Apple on the other hand stood at just 7 per cent, while Korea's Samsung dominated the market with a 43 per cent value share.

 

The IDC report states that Sony's strong position in the mid-tier smartphone market has delivered the company with these results. "Some of the top selling models for Sony are Xperia M Dual and Xperia C priced in this bracket, which is one of the fastest growing segments in the Indian smartphone market," said Manasi Yadav, senior market analyst at IDC.

 

Apple losing its second spot to Sony boils down to the company's decision to withdraw the iPhone 4 from the market. This decision meant that the company had no device in the Rs 20,000 price bracket, allowing Sony to overtake it.

 

"While this loss of sales prompted Apple to relaunch iPhone 4 once again in India in January, sales have not picked up since it is not at all spending on marketing or offering any buyback offer and even the initial euphoria around iPhone 5S has sobered down," said the unnamed CEO of a leading phone retail chain, in a Times of India report.

 

Sony however is nowhere near being clear of its competition, and in fact the company's share in the Indian smartphone market slid in the January – March quarter of 2014. The biggest reasons seen behind this are Nokia's foray into the Android device market with its X series of low-cost smartphones, and Micromax rolling out a new range of Canvas phones.

 

India is one of very few markets where Sony has found success in selling smartphones. The company's Indian smartphone arm earned it similar revenues to its flagship television business in FY-14, and the two divisions together made up over 70 per cent of Sony's overall revenue (about Rs 10,000 crore) in India.

 

"However, smartphone business will overtake television business in sales this fiscal year," said Kenichiro Hibi, MD at Sony India, according to TOI. "For us, both television and smartphone will be the main pillars to continue the pace of growth in India."

 

"The smartphone business doubled in last one year which led to 20% growth in overall sales in 2013-14. We expect to grow at a similar pace this fiscal as well to touch Rs 12,000 crore sales," added Hibi.


TAGS: Mobile Phones, Android, Sony India, mid-range smartphone, Apple

 
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