India, the second most populous country in the world, does have a market that is worth checking out regardless of the item that goes on sale, although it would be nice if the average person would have a higher earning power instead of having it skewed all the way to one side. Having said that, India still has plenty of room for growth where the smartphone market is concerned, with most people being able to afford featurephones only at this point in time. Right now, Microsoft lays claim to 12% of the smartphone market in India, at least according to research firm Gfk.
Samsung Electronics expanded its lead over Micromax in India’s smartphone market in September while Nokia retained its third spot, significantly ahead of Lava and Karbonn, data from research firm Gfk showed. Gfk data for July, August and September showed South Korea’s Samsung had achieved a 33% market share at the end of the period after gaining over a percentage point from August. Home-bred Micromax came in second with more than 18% share, adding a tad over the previous month while Finnish handset maker Nokia, now owned by Microsoft, managed to keep itself going at No. 3 with 12% share. ET has reviewed the research firm’s data. In the wider market that includes feature phones, Samsung led with about a fourth of the market share while Nokia continued to be No. 2 at about 21%.Micromax, however, came in a distant third at 13.5%, data showed.