Feature phone shipments drop in Q1, but brands play it cool

Affordable internet access and the declining price of smart phones are beginning to eat into the Indian feature phone market. While India’s smartphone market grew by 7.1 per cent in the first quarter of calender year 2019, feature phones have seen a sharp decline, according to a report by International Data Corporation (IDC).

Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, IDC India, said: “The 2G feature phone market will continue to decline, and 4G feature phones will either see stable or less aggressive shipments, similar tothe initial opening quarters since Q4 2017.”

The feature phone market — which accounts for half of the total mobile phone shipments — registered shipments of 32.3 million units in Q1 2019, a decline of 42.4 per cent compared with the same quarter last year. The shipping of 4G-enabled feature phones dipped more than 50 per cent year-on-year due to channel inventory from the previous quarters, the IDC report said.