Micromax world's 10th largest mobile brand in Q1: Gartner

Homegrown telephone handset maker Micromax ranks among the top-10 global vendors in the segment with 1.8 per cent market share during the March quarter, according to research firm Gartner.

Gartner’s data showed the total sales (features and smartphones) stood at 460.3 million units during the first quarter of 2015, a 2.5 per cent increase from the year-ago period.

Korean firm Samsung led by tally with 21.3 per cent share, followed by Apple (13.1 per cent), Microsoft (7.2 per cent), LG (4.3 per cent) and Lenovo (4.2 per cent). Others in the top-10 include Huawei (4 per cent), Xiaomi (3.2 per cent), TCL Communication (3.1 per cent), ZTE (2.7 per cent) and Micromax (1.8 per cent).

“In light of their strong smartphone sales in the emerging markets, the Indian and Chinese phone manufacturers increased their footprint during the first quarter of 2015. Six of them were in the top 10 in the first quarter of 2015,” Gartner research director Anshul Gupta said. 

Global smartphones sales to end-users witnessed 19.3 per cent increase to 336 million units during the first quarter of 2015, led by strong growth in emerging markets (excluding China).

The fastest growing regions were emerging Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and the Middle East and North Africa. “During this quarter, local brands and Chinese vendors came out as the key winners in emerging markets,” Gupta said.  

Samsung had 24.2 per cent share of the global smartphone market in the January-March 2015 quarter, followed by Apple (17.9 per cent), Lenovo (5.6 per cent), Huawei (5.4 per cent) and LG (4.6 per cent).