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While smartphone demand growth is waning worldwide, the Indian mobile phone market remains underpenetrated and is growing, offering substantial opportunities for every mobile value chain participant. In this report, mobile phones include smartphones and feature phones, with the latter further divided into two categories: simple and smart feature phones. Smartphones have registered fast acceptance in the market, but feature phones still account for half of the total volume sold in the Indian market.

Frost & Sullivan finds that new entrants’ main focus area is affordable smart feature phones. These phones have lower prices than smartphones yet offer many smartphone functionalities, increasing their attractiveness among budget-conscious consumers. However, increased consumer preference for smart devices and narrowing price differences drive consistent growth in the smartphone market. Internet penetration is a major factor that boosts smartphone business in rural areas, accounting for 70% of the market share in India.

5G is one of the key disruptive technologies in India’s mobile phone market. Although the country does not have any commercial network, mobile phone providers in India launched about 20 5G-enabled devices in 2020. Almost every alternate phone to be launched in 2021 will be 5G compatible. India is trying to future-proof the 5G segment. By the time trials start, the market will already have several 5G phones, which did not happen in the past for other wireless service generations.