Intex, Micromax claim second spot in handset market

There is a tough fight for the second spot in the India’s fast-growing mobile handset market with both the firms Micromax and Intex which are leading domestic vendors, claim to the second position.

Intex Technologies has overtaken Micromax Informatics by selling more number of smartphones during the July-September quarter, according to data from global Data Corp, a technology research and consulting firm. In smartphones, Samsung was the largest player with 24% share of the market, followed by Micromax (16.7%), Intex (10.8%), Lenovo (9.5%), and Lava (4.7%). “Towards similar period, the other (company) in question imported 8.4 million handsets”.

“Overwhelmingly, the evidence points to an increase in Micromax sales and shares in the JAS quarter and a reinforcement of Micromax as the Number 1 Indian handset manufacturer”, the company said.

While import reports are usually accurate, Taneja commented that different research agencies have different methodologies for obtaining data and this may lead to some blindspots.

He also claimed that Micromax’s share in the smartphone segment is nearly double of the next player, but conceded that there is strong competition.

“We do a lot of surveys, which suggest that in billing terms our numbers are far ahead of any other Indian player”, Taneja said. “Sustainably and consistently are biggest virtues as far as smartphone category is concerned”, he said.

Local smartphone maker Micromax Informatics, is not too happy with IDC’s recent take about the smartphone market.

According to IDC data, Micromax sold about 4.72 million smartphones up from about 4.47 million handsets during the previous quarter, while Intex sales went up from about 2.89 million handsets to about 3.05 million handsets, during the same period.

“We expect smartphones to maintain a healthy double-digit growth over the next few years…”

Samsung with 13.1% market share has again grabbed the top position for mobiles in India.