With so many launches and new brands entering the rapidly-growing phone market in the subcontinent, it's important to take a step back and get a macroscopic look at the state of the Indian phone market. Our past reports have revealed some interesting insights about the launches, spec trends as well as consumers' ever-changing interests. The first six months of 2015 revealed many surprises as well, and our report takes a comprehensive look at those trends.

1. Mobile phone landscape:
India H1 2015
Launch and search trends
The #1 Gadget Research Website in India
Nitansh Rastogi, Correspondent

2. A bevy of phones came our way in H1 2015 >
MARKET
WATCH

3. 1
Onwards and upwards: number of phone launches
likely to increase by 50% in 2015
Number of phones launched in 2013, 2014 and H1 2015
957
1137
857
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Projected
launches
in H2
2015
2013 2014 2015
1,700+
Actual
launches
in H1
2015

4. Top brands by number of smartphone launches in H1 2015
41
24
21
17
15
13 12
10 9 9
Intex Micromax Samsung Karbonn Lava XOLO HTC Spice Sony iBall
Indian brands continued their domination in terms
of smartphone launches
2
Note: To consider only smartphones, devices priced below Rs 3,000 have been removed

5. Top brands by number of smartphone launches above Rs 10,000 (in H1 2015)
International brands dominate launches priced
above Rs 10,000
15
9
7
6
4 4
3 3 3
2
Samsung HTC LG Sony Xiaomi Micromax vivo ZTE Asus Gionee
3

6. Samsung launched devices across all price bands, including the Rs 5-
10k band, unlike the previous year
4
1
5
7
2
6
4
3
4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Below 5k
5k-10k
10k-20k
20k-30k
Above 30k
H1 2014
H1 2015
Number of phones launched by Samsung in H1 2014 and H1 2015

7. HTC targeted the Rs 20k and below segments
more than in the previous year
5
3
5
1
3
1
2
2
2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Below 5k
5k-10k
10k-20k
20k-30k
Above 30k
H1 2014
H1 2015
Number of phones launched by HTC in H1 2014 and H1 2015

8. Sony also shifted its focus from the high-end
segment to budget offerings
6
Number of phones launched by Sony in H1 2014 and H1 2015
3
2
3
1
4
2
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Below 5k
5k-10k
10k-20k
20k-30k
Above 30k
H1 2014
H1 2015

9. Micromax increased concentration of launches to the below Rs 5k range,
while reducing launches above Rs 5k
7
Number of phones launched by Micromax in H1 2014 and H1 2015
27
9
4
16
20
9
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Below 5k
5k-10k
10k-20k
20k-30k
Above 30k
H1 2014
H1 2015

10. Some interesting trends
spotted in H1 2015 >
BIG TRENDS

11. Devices priced between Rs 5k and 10k gained the most in user views,
while high-end devices saw a sharp decline in popularity
2%
36%
33%
8%
18%
2%
45%
33%
11%
5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Below 5k 5k-10k 10k-20k 20k-30k 30k and above
H1 2014
H1 2015
Popularity of devices by price-band (in terms of % of user searches)
8

12. The year of Chinese invasion – share of Chinese origin brands
increased more than three-fold
Indian
brands
27%
Chinese
brands
7%
Other
International
brands
66%
Share of user views by brand origin
(H1 2014)
Indian
brands
28%
Chinese
brands
22%
Other
International
brands
50%
Share of user views by brand origin
(H1 2015)
9
Indian brands – brands originated from India such as Micromax, Intex and Lava
Chinese brands – brands originated from China such as Lenovo, Xiaomi and Gionee
Other International brands – brands apart from the above two such as Samsung, HTC and Sony

13. 17.9%
10.8%
4.8%
2.3%
0.0%
8.2%
0.0%
15.0%
1.4%
4.0%
13.9%
9.5%
8.1%
7.3%
5.4% 5.0% 4.8% 4.4%
3.9% 3.7%
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
16.0%
18.0%
20.0%
Samsung Micromax HTC Lenovo Xiaomi Sony ASUS Nokia Intex Lava
H1 2014
H1 2015
With increased competition, most of the top 10 brands declined in
relative popularity, except HTC, Lenovo along with the new entrants
Top brands in terms of user views in H1 2014 vs H1 2015
10
New Entrants
Brands that were ousted
from the list:
• Karbonn
• Apple
• Gionee

14. The online-only trend grew further – Motorola marked the start of this
concept last year, but it became mainstream this year
Share of user views of devices selling exclusively online in 2014 and H1 2015
11
4%
7%
16%
20%
33%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 H1 2015

15. 5-inch is the new small: 9 out of 10 popular devices across all price
bands sport 5-inch & above displays
2
2
3
5
1
1
5
5
9
7
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5k-10k
10k-20k
20k-30k
Above 30k
Below 5-inches 5-inch Above 5-inches
Top 10 devices based on user views in H1 2015, segregated on the basis of screen size
12

16. Popularity of devices
based on user views on
91mobiles.com >
H1 2015
REPORT
CARD

17. The chart toppers – the top three most popular
phones in H1 2015
ASUS ZenFone 2
Price:
Rs 12,999 – Rs 22,999
(four variants)
Launched in: Apr 2015
13
Samsung Galaxy
Core Prime
Price: ~Rs 8,000
Launched in: Dec 2014
YU Yureka
Price: Rs 8,999
Launched in: Jan 2015
1
2
3

18. Top 10 devices in H1 2015: almost all priced below Rs 20k, no flagship
devices make the cut
Rank Mobile name Price band Launched in
1 Asus ZenFone 2 10-20k Apr 2015
2 YU Yureka 5k-10k Jan 2015
3 Samsung Galaxy Core Prime 5k-10k Oct 2014
4 HTC Desire 620G 10k-20k Dec 2014
5 Lenovo K3 Note* 5k-10k July 2015
6 Samsung Galaxy A7 20k-30k Feb 2015
7 Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G 5k-10k Dec 2014
8 Samsung Galaxy Core 2 Dual SIM 5k-10k Jul 2014
9 Xiaomi Mi 4 10k-20k Feb 2015
10 Micromax Canvas Nitro A311 5k-10k Sept 2014
14
*The Lenovo K3 Note became popular in terms of user searches even before its launch
Top 10 devices in H1 2015 in terms of user views

19. 4G phablets rule the roost in the Rs 5k-10k
segment in terms of user views
15
YU Yureka
Launched in:
Jan 2015
Samsung
Galaxy Core
Prime
Launched in:
Dec 2014
Lenovo K3
Note
Launched in:
Jul 2015
Xiaomi Redmi
Note 4G
Launched in:
Dec 2014
Samsung
Galaxy Core 2
Launched in:
Jul 2014
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
Top 5 devices basis user views priced between Rs 5,000 – 15,000 in H1 2015

20. HTC is the most popular brand in the Rs 10k-20k
segment
16
HTC Desire
820
Launched in:
Nov 2014
Lenovo P70
Launched in:
May 2015
Xiaomi Mi 4
Launched in:
Jan 2015
HTC Desire
620G
Launched in:
Nov 2014
ASUS
ZenFone 2
Launched in:
Apr 2015
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
Top 5 devices basis user views priced between Rs 10,000 – 20,000 in H1 2015

21. Top devices in the Rs 20k-30k segment: an
assorted mix of old flagships and new launches
17
Samsung
Galaxy A7
Launched in:
Jan 2015
Gionee
Elife S7
Launched in:
Apr 2015
HTC Desire
826
Launched in:
Apr 2015
Sony Xperia Z
Ultra
Launched in:
Jul 2013
Samsung
Galaxy S5
Launched in:
Apr 2014
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
Top 5 devices basis user views priced between Rs 20,000 – 30,000 in H1 2015

22. Most popular devices priced above Rs 30k – the
usual suspects
18
LG G4
Launched in:
Jun 2015
Google
Nexus 6
Launched in:
Nov 2014
Samsung
Galaxy S6
Launched in:
Mar 2015
Samsung
Galaxy Note 4
Launched in:
Oct 2014
Apple
iPhone 6
Launched in:
Nov 2014
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
Top 5 devices basis user views priced above Rs 30,000 in H1 2015