As smartphone brands face a state of uncertainty as both supply and demand has been diminished in India, the industry will bear the maximum brunt in the second quarter (April-June period), leaving the sector with at least 11-12 per cent overall decline in shipments for the entire 2020, a new report said on Thursday.
According to CMR’s ‘India Mobile Handset Market Review Report for Q1 2020’, the total smartphone shipments in India in the March quarter grew mere 4 per cent (year-on-year).
The first wave of 5G smartphones hit the market, accounting for 2 per cent of the overall smartphone shipments in Q1 2020.
The smartphone market grew modestly on the back of good consumer demand before the onset of COVID-19 hit the market.
“Going forward, we remain cautious about the speed of recovery in India’s smartphone market this year. We are keeping a close tab on the macroeconomic factors and how it plays out from here on. Our best-case scenario suggests a decline of 11-12% in overall smartphone shipments for 2020,” said Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR.
At the beginning of the year, COVID-19 was merely a supply-side challenge confined to China and smartphone brands in India were able to tide over the initial wave of the crisis with enough inventory supplies.
“However, as COVID-19 cases in India crossed the 500 mark in late March, India went into a complete lockdown. For smartphone brands, this has put both supply as well as demand in a state of uncertainty. Q2 2020 will be where the industry will face the brunt of the pandemic and test the resilience of smartphone brands,” Ram elaborated.