Shipments of smartphones that can be used on Indian 4G LTE network has overtaken 3G devices for the first time in October 2015, said IDC.

India’s 4G LTE network operators include Bharti Airtel and Vodafone. Reliance Jio Infocomm will launch its 4G services on 27 December for its employees and for commercial purposes in March / April 2016. Idea Cellular will be introducing 4G services in 750 towns in the second quarter of 2016.

Device makers have shipped 9.3 million smartphones in India in October 2015 against over 10 million units in September.

“This decline could be attributed to incremental supplies witnessed during last weeks of September as the channels prepared for October’s festive demand and online mega sales from ecommerce players,” said IDC.

With 25.9 percent month-on-month growth, 4G based smartphone accounted for more than half of smartphones shipped in October. 3G enabled handsets vendors are replacing their existing models with 4G based smartphones.

IDC predicts that the 4G smartphone market will further as Reliance Jio Infocomm’s 4G services will hit the market towards the calendar year.

Online boosts smartphone sales

Online shipments of smartphones grew 12.1 percent in October over the previous month. Online share increased from 33.5 percent in September 2015 to 41.2 percent in October 2015, primarily driven by Samsung and Lenovo.

Karthik J, senior market analyst, Client Devices, IDC India, said: “Online mega sales encouraged device vendors to increase shipments online and launch new new models.”

Samsung’s On5 and On7, Lenovo’s Vibe P1, Oneplus 2 and Apple’s iPhone 6s have incrementally contributed to the online volume in October 2015.

Shipments of top 3 Chinese vendors Lenovo, Xiaomi and Vivo together grew at 18 percent month-over-month in October.

More than half of Xiaomi’s smartphones shipped in India were locally manufactured in October.

Baburajan K
[email protected]