Mobile handset shipments in India are set to cross 300 million in 2018.

The new CMR estimates point out that smartphones in India will overtake feature-phones by 2020.

Smartphones grew 17 percent driven by strong performance registered by brands including Honor, Realme and Vivo.

The report said Q2 2018 saw the arrival of fusion phones, feature phones with 4G capability, as a distinct category – driven by Reliance Jio’s JioPhone. Leading Indian phone brands such as Micromax and Lava are also shipping in smaller quantities.

“Other brands shall also explore Fusion phones and excite the consumers with enriched smart capabilities within the feature phone form factor.  However, the success will depend on the support from telecom operators,” Narinder Kumar, lead analyst, IIG-CMR, said.

Prabhu Ram, head – Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, has revealed two broad trends that are emerging in the Indian phone market.

First, the impact of Jio’s Monsoon offer is leading to erratic demand projection estimations for all major handset brands.

Second, smaller players are adding capabilities to switch to CKD manufacturing and maintain production levels with their own SMT lines.

HTC exited from the India market, while ASUS scripted a positive turnaround, on the back of a revised market strategy.