Riding on an increased mobile penetration and adoption to the work from home model, the Indian smartphone market touched its highest-ever shipments in 2021.

Despite hurdles like semiconductor chip shortage, fuel price hikes leading to disruptions in supply, the country managed to record shipments at 169 million, jumping 11% from 2020. According to Counterpoint Research, a global research firm, India’s smartphone shipment in 2020 was at152 million, down 4% from 2019.

What led to the sharp rise in smartphone shipments in 2021?

The firm stated that increased adoption and demand for 5G smartphones alone contributed to about 17% of the overall shipments in 2021.

With the price tags for 5G phones coming down, Counterpoint analysts said, “Going forward, we expect the market to continue to grow by double digits with a healthy contribution of the mid-to-high-end 5G smartphones.”

Talking of 5G penetration, India is all set to roll out 5G services in select cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Ahmedabad and Pune by the end of 2022. The Indian government might award frequencies for the provision of 5G services in April or May 2022, as per Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Coming back to smartphone shipments, smartphones under Rs 10,000 had a market share of 30%, while smartphones in the Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 price band had the maximum market share at 47%. Phones priced over Rs 30,000 had a market share of 10%.

Meanwhile, the global smartphone market in 2021 was dominated by Samsung with a market share of 18.9%, followed by Apple at 17.2% and Xiaomi at 13.5%. It is noteworthy that Apple sold the most number of iPhones in a year i. e. 2021.