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According to a International Data Corporation's (IDC) quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report, the Indian smartphone market grew by 229 percent year over year (YoY) in the third quarter of 2013 (Q3 2013), with a total of 12.8 million smartphone shipments as compared to 3.8 million in 3Q2012.

The market also grew 38 percent since the second quarter of 2013 with Indian consumers showing a significant trend towards smartphone adoption.

Within the mobile phone segment, that includes both feature phones and smart phones, the market observed a 12 percent year over year growth and 7 percent quarter over quarter growth for the current year. The feature phone segment also grew by 3 percent in Q3 2013 over the previous quarter despite suffering an overall slide down to 81 percent in total market share.

International manufacturers led the overall mobile phone market however with a very narrow margin. In the combined featurephones and smartphones mobile category Samsung led the overall mobile phone market with 15.3 percent of the market share this quarter with the launch of its Note 3 among its other releases, and Nokia edged in at number two with a 14.7 percent share with the launch of its Lumia series of Windows phones.

Representational Image. AFP

For the past few years, Indian vendors have strategised to provide a far cheaper alternative to smartphones in their feature phone offering and Indian consumers have welcomed them due to their limited budget but unlimited desire for advanced mobile technology. This last year marks a break from this trend.

Since the third quarter (Q3 2012), research shows that local vendors need to be worried, as consumers have begun the eventual migration to smartphones.

In Q3 2012 the split between smartphone and feature phone purchase was 7 percent to 93 percent respectively, shifting to 19 percent to 81 percent by the current quarter of 2013.

Indian vendors like Micromax, Karbon and Lava have presumably taken notice of this trend and are changing strategies. After years of cornering the feature-phone market, Indian vendors are now addressing the smartphone market as foreign companies take aggressive strides to convert the feature phone segment in to the smartphone segment through pricing strategies.

In response, Indian vendors are employing strategies of competitive pricing as well, they are also rebranding feature-phones as smartphones and positioning themselves for the global market and have just begun their resistance to global competition.

In the smartphone category, Indian companies have adopted much needed competitive strategy; Micromax has launched phones such as the A26 and A27 models gaining a 17.1 percent market share for the current quarter. They have also broadened their image with the hiring of Hugh Jackman as their brand ambassador to bolster the brand image as a not-so-typical Indian brand. Karbon has also launched the A6 and A50 handset, as well as the Titanium series of phones, reaching a market share of 11.2 percent. Lava still lags in the overall market with 4.7 percent share but retains a top 5 position on the basis of the sales of its IRIS 349 and IRIS 402 handsets

Companies such as Samsung and Nokia have had serious consequences from domestic feature phone manufacturers in the past but the trend leading up to the current quarter shows that they have adapted well. In the smartphone category for the current quarter, Samsung holds a dominant 32.9 percent market share which is greater than Micromax, Karbonn and Lava combined and has limited even Nokia to a mere 5 percent share.

As international providers continue to fight local vendors in the smartphone market, they will ensure that a market as vast as India is imprinted with global brands. The research clearly shows, consumers will follow value for money irrespective of who the provider is – Indian or foreign.