India only smartphone market amongst the top 3 to see growth in the January-March quarter: IDC

NEW DELHI: India’s smartphone market saw 1.5% year-on-year growth in shipments with 32.5 million shipped in the January-March quarter of 2020, up from 32.0 million units last year during the same quarter, according to IDC’s Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report.

Despite the relatively flat growth, India was the only country amongst the top 3 to see any growth, as both China and USA markets declined YoY by (-20.3%) and (-16.0%) respectively in 1Q20.

IDC said that handset inventories remained high throughout the distribution channels due to seasonally low demand in the first quarter, clubbed with the COVID-19 impact from mid-March 2020 onwards as the nationwide lockdown was announced.