Mobile handset shipments to India increased by 13.8% to 47 million units in July-September, 2011, propelled by sales of dual-SIM handsets, according to research firm IDC.
On a quarter-on-quarter year-on-year basis, mobile phone shipments were up 12%.
"... The mobile phone shipments witnessed a spurt, as vendors built channel inventories ahead of a long festival season. Dual-SIM handset shipments were notable, with a sequential growth of 25.2% over the previous quarter," International Data Corporation (IDC) Research Director for India Deepak Kumar said in a statement.
Looking ahead, the IDC said, "The calendar year 2011 is expected to close with mobile phone shipments of around 184.4 million units... Market to clock 301 million by 2015, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.03% during the period of 2011-2015."
The smartphone segment is forecast to see a much higher CAGR of 63.4% during the same period to achieve shipments of 77.5 million units by 2015, it added.
In the July-September quarter, the smartphone segment witnessed a growth of 51.5% year-on-year and 21.4% quarter-on-quarter to garner a 6.5% share of the overall mobile phone market, IDC said.
Finnish cellphone company Nokia was the leader in both feature phone and smartphone categories, with a 31.8% and 35.3% market share, respectively, during the period under review.
Korean company Samsung stood second, with a 17.5% of the feature phone segment and a 26% share of the smartphone market.
Spice and MAXX were the top home-grown brands, witnessing a growth of 34.1% 10.1%, respectively, in total shipments during the July-September quarter vis-a-vis the previous quarter.
From an operating system perspective, Android phones overtook Symbian to emerge as the top platform in India for the first time, with a 42.4% share of the smartphone market.
Shipments of Android smartphones grew by 90% in July-September in comparison to the previous quarter.
Apple's iPhones, which use the iOS operating system, consolidated their market share further during the quarter, accounting for 3.09 per of overall smartphone shipments, compared to 2.6% in the second quarter of 2011.
